So-Hyun Lee, Soobin Choi and Hee-Woong Kim
The purpose of this paper is to explore the key success factors behind Bangtan Boys’ (BTS) popularity, and how they can contribute to sustaining it, along with detailed strategies…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the key success factors behind Bangtan Boys’ (BTS) popularity, and how they can contribute to sustaining it, along with detailed strategies for the success of global pop.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopts a mixed-methods approach that uses text mining and interviews and uses the success of BTS to find the key factors accounting for its sustained popularity. For use in text mining, we collected data related to BTS from social network sites (SNS) and analyzed this data using latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) topic modeling, term frequency analysis and keyword extraction. In addition, we conducted interviews to explore the key factors accounting for the sustained popularity of BTS.
Findings
We found ten key success factors—active global fandom, SNS communication, fans' loyalty, empathy through music, storytelling and world view, performance quality, music video quality, overseas expansion at an early stage, efforts for self-development and teamwork among members— for a global pop group's success and sustained popularity.
Research limitations/implications
This study contributes to the literature by finding key factors for success and sustained popularity of a global group through using a mixed-methods approach.
Practical implications
Our results suggest strategies to sustain the popularity of global groups and its potential to benefit across the entertainment industry.
Originality/value
This study is among the first to comprehensively examine the key factors for Korean pop’s (K-pop) sustained popularity by using a mixed-methods approach of text mining and interviews.
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Jihee Choi and Soobin Seo
This paper aims to investigate consumer responses to brand rumors and corporate rumor response strategies in the restaurant industry.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate consumer responses to brand rumors and corporate rumor response strategies in the restaurant industry.
Design/methodology/approach
A scenario-based experimental design was used to examine changes in consumers’ brand evaluation depending on level of brand equity and corporate choice of response strategy.
Findings
It was found that the impact of brand rumors on consumer responses is more negative when the restaurant’s brand equity is low compared to when it is high. It was also found that a company's use of active response strategies is more effective in combating brand rumor than a strategy of simple denial.
Practical implications
The findings have significant implications for both academics and practitioners in terms of developing effective response strategies for counteracting brand rumors.
Originality/value
Given the frequency of brand rumors in the restaurant industry and their serious negative impacts, this study extends the existing brand crisis communication literature by demonstrating how consumers respond to a rumor and the effectiveness of different corporate rumor response strategies.
Jihee Choi and Soobin Seo
This study aims to investigate consumer responses to cause-related marketing (CRM) implemented by socially stigmatized industries, especially in fast food restaurants.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate consumer responses to cause-related marketing (CRM) implemented by socially stigmatized industries, especially in fast food restaurants.
Design/methodology/approach
This experimental study uses a 2 (degree of perceived fit) × 2 (complementary fit) × 2 (brand equity) between-subjects design.
Findings
Results show significant interaction effects between the degree of fit and brand equity and complementary fit and brand equity on consumers’ brand evaluation. When a company with high brand equity chooses a high fit (vs low fit) or complementary fit (vs non-complimentary fit) for CRM promotion, this leads to consumers’ more positive attitude and higher intent to participate in CRM promotion.
Practical implications
This study provides practical implications for designing effective CRM promotion in the stigmatized industry such as fast food restaurants and casino.
Originality/value
Given the increased demand on CRM in the hospitality industry, the paper contributes to extend the realm of CRM literatures by investigating antecedents affecting consumers’ responses toward the CRM in the stigmatized companies or brands.
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EunSol Her, Soobin Seo, Jihee Choi, Victor Pool and Sanja Ilic
The purpose of this paper is to examine food safety behaviors of consumers and employees at university food courts.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine food safety behaviors of consumers and employees at university food courts.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a smartphone-based observation technique, a total of 149 consumers and 34 employees were observed at three food courts at a mid-western university in the USA. The observational tool recorded 30 sequential transactions of each individual, allowing researchers to identify the compliance rate to the rubric. Both descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis of variance were used for data analysis.
Findings
This study found a low compliance rate of food safety practices among consumers and employees at university food courts. Consumers’ food safety practices varied depending on gender, observed ethnicity and party size, while none of those factors was significant for employees. Specifically, females, Caucasians, and lone diners showed higher non-compliance rates than those of males, non-Caucasians and group diners.
Research limitations/implications
The results of the study raise the pressing needs of developing effective risk communication strategies at university food courts for both consumers and employees in order to reduce the potential risk of foodborne illness outbreaks.
Originality/value
University food courts are not only major foodservice operations for on-campus populations as well as off-campus visitors and the local public, but also the presence of shared dining area pertains the potential risk of foodborne illnesses. However, lack of attention has been paid to the food safety issues at university food courts, and especially food safety behaviors of consumers. This study extended the knowledge of previous food safety literature by adopting a smartphone-based observation technique and developing a rubric customized for consumers and employees at university food courts.
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David A. Griffith, Hannah Soobin Lee and Goksel Yalcinkaya
Social media is a product that is co-created by consumers and multinational enterprises, that partially manage the customer experience and that has garnered significant attention…
Abstract
Purpose
Social media is a product that is co-created by consumers and multinational enterprises, that partially manage the customer experience and that has garnered significant attention in the field of international marketing. However, international marketing scholars have yet to address the societal costs of the use of social media, even as academics in other disciplines and business leaders are raising alarm that social media has created a digital ecosystem that may harm individuals within the global market. The objective of this research is to examine the generalizability of the relationship between the use of social media and the prevalence of depression across countries.
Design/methodology/approach
Employing social cohesion theory and the social network approach of the strength of ties, this work examines the relationship between the use of social media and time spent on social media at the country level and the prevalence of depression. The authors examine this issue within a 28-country, eight-year, unbalanced panel dataset, accounting for cultural, economic and structural factors.
Findings
The authors find that as more people within a country use social media, the prevalence of depression in that country increases. However, the authors also find that as the average time spent on social media in a country increases the deleterious relationship between the use of social media and the prevalence of depression diminishes.
Originality/value
Answering the calls in the international marketing literature for a greater understanding of the externalities (i.e. consumer well-being effects) of marketing activities of multinational companies, this study demonstrates the varying relationships of the use of and time spent on social media and the prevalence of depression at the population level, across a wide variety of countries, thus also contributing to the effort to improving generalizations from multi-country comparisons in international research.
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Qiushi Gu, Minglong Li and Songshan (Sam) Huang
The use of modern technologies in restaurants has become a trend. For food and beverage services, embracing new technologies helps solve the dilemmas of increasing labor costs and…
Abstract
Purpose
The use of modern technologies in restaurants has become a trend. For food and beverage services, embracing new technologies helps solve the dilemmas of increasing labor costs and the high level of staff turnover in the industry. However, knowledge regarding how consumers perceive and evaluate technology-assisted dining experiences (TADEs) is limited. This study aims to conceptualize and operationalize TADEs while considering increasing technological applications in restaurants.
Design/methodology/approach
This study conducted in-depth interviews with 71 restaurant consumers in Nanjing and Wuhan, China. Following the interviews, this study carried out a survey and identified the factor structure of TADEs.
Findings
The in-depth interviews identified 26 attributes of TADEs. An analysis of the survey data identified four important aspects (with 21 items) of TADEs, namely, novelty and fashion, convenience, high efficiency and restrictions and possible risks.
Practical implications
Hospitality managers can implement the suggested measures for dining service design and technology management to improve the experiences of customers.
Originality/value
These findings have theoretical implications for the new phenomenon of technology-integrated dining, the application of technology and consumer management in the catering industry.
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This study aims to address how the social structure of the hospitality management field has evolved from 1960 to 2016.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to address how the social structure of the hospitality management field has evolved from 1960 to 2016.
Design/methodology/approach
The informal social structure of the hospitality management literature was analyzed by collecting authorship data from seven hospitality management journals. Co-authorship analyses via network analysis were conducted.
Findings
According to the findings, throughout the history of hospitality management, international collaboration levels are relatively low. Based on social network analysis, the research community is only loosely connected, and the network of the community does not fit with the small-world network theory. Additional findings indicate that researchers in the hospitality management literature are ranked via degree centrality, closeness centrality and betweenness centrality. Cliques, which contain at least five researchers, and core researchers are identified.
Practical implications
This study helps both scholars and practitioners improve the informal structure of the field. Scholars must generate strong ties to strengthen cross-fertilization in the field; hence, they collaborate with authors who have strong positions in the field. Specifically, this provides a useful performance analysis. To the extent that institutions and individuals are rewarded for publications, this study demonstrates the performance and connectivity of several key researchers in the field. This finding could be interesting to (post)graduate students. Hospitality managers looking for advisors and consultants could benefit from the findings. Additionally, these are beneficial for journal editors, junior researchers and agencies/institutions.
Originality/value
As one of the first study in the field, this research examines the informal social structure of hospitality management literature in seven journals.
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Marvin E. Gonzalez, Gioconda Quesada, Juan Luis Martinez and Sebastian Gonzalez-Cordoba
As markets, economies and institutions are increasingly globalized, there is a growing understanding of the need to introduce intercultural learning alongside business learning…
Abstract
Purpose
As markets, economies and institutions are increasingly globalized, there is a growing understanding of the need to introduce intercultural learning alongside business learning. Participating in a study abroad program is potentially one of the most important experiences for any college student. Such programs provide students the opportunity to immerse themselves in different cultures and gain new perspectives. The purpose of this paper is threefold: to identify the main factors that students consider when selecting a program; to integrate quality function deployment (QFD), benchmarking and Hoshin Kanri in the analysis of student expectations and to examine the implications for research and practice.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was based on primary data collected from 180 students at four universities. To design an approach that helps students in the selection of a program that best satisfies their expectations, a self-designed questionnaire was used for data collection. The data were analyzed using the techniques of QFD/benchmarking. Finally, a long-term strategy is proposed based on the Hoshin Kanri theory.
Findings
The great variability in student expectations presents a challenge in designing a methodology of selection; however, it does help in identifying the most important student expectations. A key, balanced relationship among academic quality, having fun and cost cannot be ignored in this study because they represent the factors that are altogether influential in the decision to study abroad. In the current literature, the key variables of study abroad programs are discussed; however, most studies fail to incorporate student expectations. This paper will fill this gap by incorporating both key academic variables and the voice of the customer (student).
Research limitations/implications
Given the diversity of the population, the authors developed several methodologies to standardize the array of student responses to the questionnaire. Using this standardization along with several total quality management (TQM) tools allows us to simplify and categorize the different student expectations. The gathering of students’ expectations directly provided by students (voice of the customer) allows international programs to focus on the real problems and expectations that have been acknowledged, thus yielding student satisfaction with their experience, most importantly, in their field of study.
Practical implications
For universities, the current study identifies new means by which to improve the quality of international programs with the use of TQM tools including QFD, benchmarking and the Hoshin Kanri Planning Process with an evidence-based real case.
Originality/value
This paper presents a conclusive application of QFD, benchmarking and Hoshin Kanri and an analysis of how these tools can help international programs with future improvements incorporating the needs of students in their programs. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first application of these techniques to improve the international experience for business undergraduate students.
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Reyes Gonzalez, Jose Gasco and Juan Llopis
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are a key player in the food services and restaurants sector; thus, the aim of this work consists in studying the previous…
Abstract
Purpose
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are a key player in the food services and restaurants sector; thus, the aim of this work consists in studying the previous research on ICTs in food services and restaurants in the context of tourism and hospitality through a systematic literature review.
Design/methodology/approach
The systematic literature review is performed on full papers published in journals included in the Journal Citation Report of the WoS in the category of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism. A total of 165 articles from 28 journals are analyzed, following different criteria, such as the research methods, perspectives, statistical techniques, geographical focus, topics, technologies, authors and universities.
Findings
The restaurant sector is more and more based on the creation of experiences and ICTs, through their multiple possibilities, can undoubtedly contribute to adding value to the simple meal and create and recreate experiences to attract and retain customers who are increasingly sophisticated and hooked on ICTs. ICTs are basic for managers taking decision at the highest level in food services and restaurants, so ICTs should not be seen as a technical tool but as an essential element for top management.
Research limitations/implications
This paper examined articles from very well-known tourism and hospitality journals, leaving aside others as well as different publication formats such as books or papers presented at conferences.
Originality/value
A significant contribution made with this paper is the availability of a list of topics in the context of ICTs in food services and restaurants. These topics are classified into three areas (Consumers, Suppliers and Environment and Tendencies) that can serve as a future research framework. The paper also provides useful information to restaurant managers about ICTs, to researchers for their future projects and to academics for their courses.