Editorial
Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Volume 22, Issue 5
In this issue, we have eight full research articles, one research-in-brief paper and one book review. The first article, by Kevin Kam Fung So and Ceridwyn King, proposes a measure to evaluate brand equity as an outcome of brand strategies. The authors collected data from 288 respondents using a self-administered survey in a major tourist destination in Australia. Their results indicate that for experienced hotel customers, service experience is most influential in determining brand meaning. This paper offers an extension of Berry’s service-branding model. The second article, by Ilhan Dalci, Veyis Tanis and Levent Kosan, applies customer profitability analysis using time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC) in a four-star hotel. They collected data through interviews, direct observations, and document analysis. Their results show that some of the customer segments, which were found unprofitable under the conventional ABC method, were found profitable using TDABC.
The third article in this issue is co-authored by Judie Gannon, Angela Roper and Liz Doherty based on research undertaken with senior human resource executives and their teams across eight international hotel companies (IHCs). Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, observations and the collection of company documentation. The findings demonstrate that although management contracts as “asset light” options for international market entry provide valuable equity and strategic opportunities, they limit IHCs’ chances of developing and sustaining human resource competitive advantage. This paper presents important insights into the tensions, practices,and implications of management contracts as market entry modes. In the next article, Kevin D. O’Gorman and Cailein Gillespie, explores how senior leaders in the hospitality industry used storytelling to disseminate their vision to employees. A total of 20 phenomenological interviews were conducted with high-level international hospitality industry leaders. The authors suggest that stories penetrate organizations and tap into the emotions of employees in order to inspire action and understanding.
Marcia Taylor and Dori Finley investigate the methods employed by resorts to successfully acculturate, assimilate, and retain international workers. The authors conducted semi-structured interviews with HR directors of six seasonal resorts that hired H2B and J1 workers. The results of this study should give HR directors some guidance on how to integrate international workers in their workforce. The following article by Ebru Gunlu, Mehmet Aksarayli and Nilüfer¸ahin Perçin investigate the effects of job satisfaction on organizational commitment for managers in large-scale hotels in the Aegean Region of Turkey. Two-structured questionnaires were administered to large-scale hotel managers and the findings indicated that extrinsic, intrinsic, and general job satisfaction have a significant effect on normative commitment and affective commitment.
Suna Koh, Joanne Jung-Eun Yoo and Carl A. Boger identify different market segments among spa goers, based on a set of benefit variables. A survey was administered to customers visiting hotel spas in Texas. Three distinct customer segments were identified based on the benefits sought by spa goers: escapists,neutralists, and hedonists. Importance performance analysis results showed what each segment perceived to be important and how well the hotel spas perform to meet expectations. This study should stimulate much-needed spa research in hospitality literature.
In the final article, John Kracht and Youcheng Wang, examine the evolution and transformation of tourism distribution channels, focusing on the role the internet has played in such a process. This paper suggests that although the advance of information and communication technology reduced the number of intermediaries in the distribution channel, but it also resulted in an increasingly complex array of intermediaries. The research-in-brief paper, by Ian Phau, Tekle Shanka and Neema Dhayan, examines the influences of information sources namely organic sources and induced sources on perceived destination image and destination choice intention of university student travellers to Mauritius. Both information sources were found to have an influence on perceived destination image and destination choice intention. Finally, Aggie Wagner provides a book review on Ecotourism and Environmental Sustainability: Principles and Practice.
We hope that our readers find all the articles published in this issue timely, relevant and useful.
Fevzi OkumusEditor-in-Chief
