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2022 Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology
doi: 10.1108/jhtt-09-2020-0242
This paper aims to use an organizational ethnography perspective to explore how subsidiary hotel properties of a multinational hotel corporation experience planned organizational identity (OI) change instituted by headquarters.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a multi-site approach to collect ethnographic data on organizational change from six hotel subsidiaries in California, USA. Over three years, multiple sources of data were collected including: 31 interviews with hotel subsidiary leaders; more than 100 participant observation hours including job shadows, conferences and meetings; and photographs and internal communication materials.FindingsMultinational hospitality companies face struggles between corporate standardization and subsidiary localization. This paper reveals that when headquarters plan changes focused on employees at their subsidiaries, the ways the latter initially accept and resist change are significantly impacted by the organizational memory and history of subsidiary leaders. However, as time progressed, properties with strong financial performance continued to operationalize new identity initiatives while properties with poorer profit margins played a balancing act between headquarters’ visionary identity and subsidiary ownership’s revenue expectations. Additionally, the situational realities caused by the COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to all properties which amplified practical and emotional challenges of organizational ethnography in hospitality research.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to hospitality literature by introducing an under-researched concept, OI change and advances understanding of the struggles in managing multinational company change. More importantly, this paper is a stepping stone for future hospitality management to embark on organizational ethnography.
Adamış, Emel; Pınarbaşı, Fatih
2022 Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology
doi: 10.1108/jhtt-09-2020-0246
This study aims to explore the visual social media (SM) (Instagram) communication and the visual characteristics of smart tourism destination (STD) communication from destination marketing/management organizations (DMOs) and user-generated content (UGC) perspectives, which refer to projected image and perceived image, respectively.Design/methodology/approachThree DMO official accounts of STDs (Helsinki, Gothenburg and Lyon) and corresponding official hashtags were selected for the sample and total 6,000 post data (1,000 × 6) were retrieved from Instagram. Visual communication content was examined with a netnographic design over a proposed four-level visual content framework using corresponding methodological approaches (thematic analysis, visual analysis, object detection and text mining) for each level.FindingsAmong the eight emerging themes dominating the images, communication of smart elements conveys far less than expected textual and visual signals from DMOs despite their smart status, and in turn, from UGC as well. UGC revealed three extra image themes regardless of smartness perception. DMOs tend to project and give voice to their standard metropolitan areas and neighborhoods while UGCs focus on food-related and emotional elements. The findings show a partial overlap between DMOs and UGCs, revealing discrepancies in objects contained in visuals, hashtags and emojis. Additionally, as a rare attempt, the proposed framework for visual content analysis showed the importance of integrated methods to investigate visual content effectively.Research limitations/implicationsThe number of attributes in visual analysis and focusing on the observed elements in text content (text, hashtags and emojis) are the limitations of the study in terms of methodology.Originality/valueApart from the multiple integrated methods used over a netnographic design, this study differs from existing SM and smart destinations intersection literature by attempting to fill a gap in focusing on and exploring visual SM communication, which is scarce in tourism context, for the contents generated by DMOs and users.
2022 Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology
doi: 10.1108/jhtt-10-2020-0276
Information and communication technologies have been widely implemented and made radical changes for several decades in the hospitality and tourism industry. This rapid development also generates considerable data in social media. This trend opens the door to analyze unstructured data and gain increased attention of a qualitative research approach from hospitality and tourism researchers and industry professionals. Therefore, this paper aims to describe how a computer-assisted qualitative data analysis (CAQDA) approach can be used in the hospitality and tourism technology literature to uncover the trends and thematic concepts of hospitality and tourism technology research and their dynamics in Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology (JHTT)Design/methodology/approachTo achieve the proposed research goals, the current study used CAQDA software, Leximancer, to analyze 218 articles published in JHTT between Volume 1(1) in 2010 and Volume 10(4) in 2019. Based on the rigorous CAQDA processes, the study performed the thematic analysis using all articles and subgroup analyses in the five-year periods.FindingsUsing CAQDA, the study reveals the critical research trends and insights on hospitality and tourism technology for 10 years in the JHTT. The findings of this study can provide strong evidence of what hospitality and tourism technology research topics have been examined and how these topics were connected and changed over time. More importantly, the current study illustrates how the CAQDA approach can be applied to uncover the hidden trends and thematic concepts from text data in the hospitality and tourism literature.Originality/valueThis study is the first attempt to apply CAQDA software to identify research trends and thematic concepts and gain insights from past JHTT’s articles. Moreover, this study applies this software to describe how hospitality and tourism researchers can use one of the modern computer-assisted qualitative techniques. Based on the findings of this study, theoretical and methodological implications for hospitality and tourism researchers are provided. More importantly, the current study presents the specific guidelines of how the CAQDA approach can be used for the literature review.
Han, Hyunjeong “Spring”; Lee, Jungwoo; Edvardsson, Bo; Verma, Rohit
2022 Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology
doi: 10.1108/jhtt-05-2020-0109
Notwithstanding the expected apparent benefits of mobile technologies (MTs) in the hotel industry, their adoption is slower than forecasted. This study aims to identify the challenges faced by hotel managers in adopting MTs in their industry, such that the authors may determine the strategic positions for adopting and managing MTs and build a frame of reference for hotel management practices.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a series of focus group interviews (FGIs) with the managers and executives of luxury hotels. FGIs were conducted in groups in a semi-structured format, asking questions about MT adoption in their hotels and the challenges they faced. The FGI transcripts were analyzed using a grounded theory approach.FindingsOpen and axial coding of FGI scripts revealed 15 underlying categories of challenges in adopting MTs in hotels. Subsequent selective coding revealed two underlying dimensions: viability-fit. With these two underlying dimensions, a strategic model for MT adoption is developed. This model identifies four MT adoption strategies in hotels: lookers, experimenters, explorers and leaders.Originality/valueThe model developed and presented herein may help analyze a hotel’s strategic positioning in adopting MT’s. Depending on the positional analysis results, hotel managers can appropriately decide resource mobilization priorities and deployment timing.
2022 Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology
doi: 10.1108/jhtt-08-2020-0206
This paper aims to study the disclosure of information about city hospitality within municipal popular reporting documents, by conducting a photo-thematic analysis of the photographic imagery contained therein. These documents have great potential for integrating supplementary information in a simplified, short and attractive form. Supplementary disclosure by means of pictures, such as that concerning city hospitality, has not previously been researched.Design/methodology/approachThis qualitative research uses visual data, specifically photographs, as a data source. To capture city hospitality disclosure, a photo-thematic analysis was conducted on a total of 495 photographs contained in a sample of 30 US municipal Popular Annual Financial Reports singled out for best practice. Photographs were inductively thematized using the qualitative data analysis software “QDA Miner”.FindingsThe photo-thematic analysis yielded an array of themes and sub-themes important to an overall understanding of municipal government disclosure about city hospitality. Going far beyond hosting the hospitality industry segment, city hospitality proved to be a complex area involving city livability and sustainability; it encompasses environmental and landscape resources, facilities, services, activities, events, culture, history, sociability, innovation and much more. Photographs were able to suitably provide supplementary nonfinancial disclosure in popular reports, conveying a welcoming image to the city’s guests – including both its citizens and visitors – in a timely and appealing way.Originality/valueThis study is the first to examine information disclosure via photographs in popular reporting, focusing on municipal government disclosures about city hospitality. It, therefore, offers new knowledge in both the areas of city hospitality and popular reporting, using an innovative qualitative research approach which gives insight into the power of pictures to generate and convey information beyond textual data.
Pan, Haiying; Chen, Meihong; Shiau, Wen-Lung
2022 Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology
doi: 10.1108/jhtt-11-2020-0300
The public health emergency of COVID-19 (Corona-virus disease) pandemic has greatly impacted tourism industry, especially in the rural tourism. This paper aims to study how rural tourism practitioners can get out of the mire of the pandemic. By analyzing the behaviors of various stakeholders and the logic of the impact of the pandemic, the behaviors of participants and future development were sorted out. The key elements that promote the recovery of rural tourism were discovered.Design/methodology/approachBased on the framework of institute analysis and development (IAD), this research selected six rural tourist communities in China as subjects for the studies. Based on the seven basic principles of hermeneutics and the inductive research method, following the analysis method of “first-order coding, second-order coding, aggregated dimensions,” the texts obtained through in-depth interview and work reports were analyzed and concepts were extracted.FindingsThe paper extracted 44 first-order concepts and 14 second-order concepts, and obtained 7 aggregation dimensions, including policy formulation and implementation, improvement of integrated marketing capabilities, improvement of tourism product quality, restrictions on rural tourism development, protection and optimization of environmental resources, industrial integration strategies and improvement of managerial and coordinating capabilities. During the pandemic, the government, enterprises and associations, as the service providers of rural tourism, can optimize the environmental resources and industrial resources of rural tourism by formulating policies, refining products and strengthening marketing in the action arena, to promote the industrial integration of rural tourism and provide better products and services for tourists.Originality/valueThis paper uses the IAD framework to study how rural tourism communities can successfully recover from the impact of the pandemic. It is found that the rapid recovery of rural tourism is the result of collective action. The core of establishing the collective action mechanism of rural tourism is consensus mechanism, co-construction mechanism and sharing mechanism. By studying the path and possibility of collective action of rural tourism communities, this paper explores the approach of multi-center governance of rural tourism communities to promote the imminent recovery of rural tourism.
Simoni, Michele; Sorrentino, Annarita; Leone, Daniele; Caporuscio, Andrea
2022 Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology
doi: 10.1108/jhtt-09-2020-0243
This study aims to provide an exploratory analysis of the role of virtual reality (VR) in the cruise context as a contribution to the limited literature on this topic. In particular, the research investigates immersive VR as a critical touchpoint at the pre-purchase stage of the customer journey.Design/methodology/approachTo achieve the research aims, the authors use a case study approach by analysing the “immersive configurator” (essentially a virtual catalogue) implemented by the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC).FindingsThree innovative functions emerged from the study of the MSC’s virtual catalogue. First, it improves the customer experience and engagement through its interactivity. Second, it allows customization of the prospective cruise experience by selecting and changing types of ship, the level of service, the position of the cabin and much more. Third, it becomes a new digital marketing system endowed with large amounts of data.Research limitations/implicationsThis study advances the current state of knowledge by presenting an empirical case study on the role of immersive VR at the pre-purchase stage of the customer journey. Second, it offers interesting implications for managers who want to take advantage of the opportunities offered by VR.Originality/valueThe present study analyses the pre-purchase stage in tourism marketing focused on the use of VR in the tourist experience at the time of service delivery. Second, it enriches the tourism literature by integrating supply-side and demand-side perspectives. Third, from a methodological point of view, this paper offers an in-depth qualitative study in a context where scholars have mostly applied quantitative methods.
2022 Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology
doi: 10.1108/jhtt-03-2021-0083
The purpose of this study is to use the grounded theory approach to develop a theoretical understanding of managerial resourcefulness in Turkish culture from the perspective of both hospitality managers and subordinates.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopts the grounded theory approach to systematically analyze the real experience of participants. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 55 participants, namely, 15 general managers and 40 department managers of five star hotels in Antalya. Computer-based qualitative data analysis software (NVivo 10) was used to analyze the data.FindingsThe data from the interviews suggest that Turkish managers can regulate their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors while performing their managerial tasks. Furthermore, they are acutely aware of the role of subordinates in maximizing managerial and organizational efficiency and place such priorities at the center of the organization. The role of culture on managerial resourcefulness is visible. Despite this, organizations are not affected by the high power distance culture within the country. Specifically, managers have a management model based on mutual trust with their subordinates, giving importance to their feelings, thoughts and well-being, communicating strongly with them, expressing appreciation and gratitude for them, and emphasizing human values.Originality/valueThe paper is the first attempt to develop a hotel-specific model of managerial resourcefulness, which could serve as a theoretical foundation in the further examination of managerial resourcefulness. Therefore, this study contributes to the existing literature by shedding light on the importance of sector-specific competencies in effectively managing subordinates in Turkish culture.
2022 Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology
doi: 10.1108/jhtt-09-2020-0240
The purpose of this study is to apply the triangle model of technology and the technology readiness index (TRI) in a qualitative study design to explore the geocaching phenomenon in state parks.Design/methodology/approachA framework was developed to examine the triangular relationships between the park, geocaching and visitors. A total of 12 semi-structured interviews were conducted with Texas state park officials. A thematic analysis was used to analyze the interview data.FindingsThree types of interactions (i.e. park-visitor, visitor-technology and park-technology) were identified. Although geocaching leads to positive recreational experiences for park visitors, the study also revealed the decreasing popularity of geocaching along with park officials’ apprehension regarding the placement of caches. The findings suggest that Texas state parks fall within the “Avoiders” stage in terms of technology readiness because of a low level of optimism and innovation and a high level of discomfort and insecurity toward geocaching technology.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the extant literature by adding new knowledge regarding geocaching in the context of state parks. This study is one of the first to apply the triangle model of technology to examine the trilateral relationships between parks, geocaching and visitors. The study also innovatively adopts the TRI in a qualitative study to identify the technology readiness stage of state parks.
Zhang, Tingting; Li, Bin; Milman, Ady; Hua, Nan
2022 Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology
doi: 10.1108/jhtt-05-2020-0126
This study aims to examine technology adoption practices in Chinese theme parks by leveraging text mining and sentiment analysis approaches on actual theme park customers’ online reviews.Design/methodology/approachThe study text mined a total of 65,518 reviews of 490 Chinese theme parks with the aid of the Python program. Further, it computed sentiment scores of the customer reviews associated with the ratings of each categorized technology practice applied in the theme parks.FindingsThe study identified two major categories of technology applications in theme parks: supporting and experiential technologies. Multiple statistical tests confirmed that supporting technologies consisted of three types: intelligent services, ticketing and in-park transportation. Experiential technologies further included five aspects of technologies according to Schmitt’s strategic experiential modules (SEMs): sense, feel, act, think and relate.Originality/valueThe study findings contribute to the current understanding of theme park visitors’ perceptions of technology adoption practices and provide insightful implications for theme park practitioners who intend to invest in high technology solutions to deliver a better customer experience.