Chin‐Feng Lin and Yu‐Hung Liao
This study seeks to focus on the following: discovering consumer preferences regarding package tours to China; revealing differences among consumers' cognition related to these…
Abstract
Purpose
This study seeks to focus on the following: discovering consumer preferences regarding package tours to China; revealing differences among consumers' cognition related to these package tours, travel advertisements on web sites and search engine results; identifying the similarities among travel agency web sites; and establishing a consumer cognitive structure to assist marketers in designing written content for display in search engine results.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopted means‐end chain theory as a theoretical basis and used the written content of tourism web sites displayed in search engine results as an empirical object. By comparing the contents of tourism web sites and the search engine results, the researchers could analyse and compare similarities and differences among web site content, search results and consumer cognition.
Findings
Using the utility score of each attribute level to calculate the total utility can uncover the customers' preferred attribute level portfolio. The calculation results identified the most preferred tour package. The study found that the greater the variety of package tours to China provided by the web sites of a particular travel agent, the higher the possibility of that agent providing discount incentives. Furthermore, the text content of each web site provides more attribute information regarding package tours and less information about the consequences of travelling and value satisfaction.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies to provide a methodology integrating conjoint analysis and the means‐end chain approach. Understanding the written content of web sites preferred by Chinese people can help marketers and web site designers design web sites attractive to this market.
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Hei Chia Wang, Yu Hung Chiang and Yen Tzu Huang
In academic work, it is important to identify a specific domain of research. Many researchers may look to conference issues to determine interesting or new topics. Furthermore…
Abstract
Purpose
In academic work, it is important to identify a specific domain of research. Many researchers may look to conference issues to determine interesting or new topics. Furthermore, conference issues can help researchers identify current research trends in their field and learn about cutting-edge developments in their area of specialization. However, so much conference information is published online that it can be difficult to navigate and analyze in a meaningful or productive way. Hence, the use of knowledge management (KM) could be a way to resolve these issues. In KM, ontology is widely adopted, but most ontology construction methods do not consider social information between target users. Therefore, this study aims to propose a novel method of constructing research topic maps using an open directory project (ODP) and social information.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach is to incorporate conference information (i.e. title, keywords and abstract) as sources and to consider the ways in which social information automatically produces research topic maps. The methodology can be divided into four modules: data collection, element extraction, social information analysis and visualization. The data collection module collects the required conference data from the internet and performs pre-processing. Then, the element extraction module extracts topics, associations and other basic elements of topic maps while considering social information. Finally, the results will be shown in the visualization module for researchers to browse and search.
Findings
The results of this study propose three main findings. First, creating topic maps with the ODP category information can help capture a richer set of classification associations. Second, social information should be considered when constructing topic maps. This study includes the relationship among different authors and topics to support information in social networks. By considering social information, such as co-authorship/collaborator, this method helps researchers find research topics that are unfamiliar but interesting or potential cooperative opportunities in the future. Third, this study presents topic maps that show a clear and simple pathway in interested domain knowledge.
Research limitations implications
First, this study analyzes and collects conference information, including the titles, keywords and abstracts of conference papers, so the data set must include all of the abovementioned information. Second, social information only analyzes co-authorship associations (collabship associations); other social information could be extracted in the future study. Third, this study only analyzes the associations between topics. The intensity of associations is not discussed in the study.
Originality/value
The study will have a great impact on learned societies because it bridges the gap between theory and practice. The study is useful for researchers who want to know which conferences are related to their research. Moreover, social networks can help researchers expand and diversify their research.
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This study aimed to advance the understanding of employees' individual-level absorptive capacity by examining the mechanisms of three dimensions of their work outcomes: contextual…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aimed to advance the understanding of employees' individual-level absorptive capacity by examining the mechanisms of three dimensions of their work outcomes: contextual performance, citizenship behaviors toward customers and service sabotage. Drawing on the theory of psychological ownership, the author theorized and assessed how employees' individual-level absorptive capacity predicts different facets of employees' work outcomes through psychological ownership.
Design/methodology/approach
Multisource data were collected from 334 subordinates from the hospitality industry in Taiwan over two time periods. The hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling, the results of which indicated that employees' individual-level absorptive capacity was positively related to psychological ownership.
Findings
Psychological ownership positively predicted contextual performance and citizenship behaviors toward customers; however, it was negatively associated with service sabotage. Finally, it was found to mediate the effects of employees' individual-level absorptive capacity on contextual performance, citizenship behaviors toward customers and service sabotage.
Originality/value
This study contributed to understanding the relationship between individual-level absorptive capacity and shaping perceptions of service workers and provided several theoretical implications for absorptive capacity and tourism literature.
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Yean-Fu Wen, Ko-Yu Hung, Yi-Ting Hwang and Yeong-Sung Frank Lin
The purpose of this paper is to establish a social-network sp.orts lottery system to support users in predicting and simulating sports lottery betting. The community data were…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to establish a social-network sp.orts lottery system to support users in predicting and simulating sports lottery betting. The community data were generated to support user decision and featured instant game records and odds data synchronisation. Furthermore, the next development cycle were evaluated through a questionnaire.
Design/methodology/approach
An extended prototype website development methodology was applied to develop the system. An online sample was collected to evaluate the function, interface, operation, and prediction designs. The χ2 test and variance analysis were used to determine the association between facets and basic demographics. Finally, the regression model was used to identify the potentially essential predictors that influence the measurement facets.
Findings
The high frequency of Facebook users, sports lottery purchases, and sports game viewers prefer the ability to predict the results of future sports games as advanced decision-making functions. However, the agent-based virtual gift presentation function was the least preferred function.
Research limitations/implications
The study sample was limited only to users: who used PTT and Facebook; were of uneven age, education, and gender; and none segment groups. The study sample primarily comprised Taiwanese respondents. These differences might influence the practicality and prediction bias of the designed website and related models.
Practical implications
The proposed method integrates social-network messages with real-time data access by using APIs, crawler schemes, and prediction mechanisms that enable developers to devise strategies for obtaining high system satisfaction. The system can be improved by adding the results of future sports games and excluding authorised Facebook message posts.
Originality/value
A social-network-based sports lottery and prediction prototyping website was evaluated through a user-preference survey regarding design functions. The measurement results indicated that users share their opinions, predictions, and personal betting results and interact with their friends.