Kimberly Thomas-Francois is PhD in Management who specialized in Service Management at School of Hospitality, Food and Tourism Management, College of Business and Economics, University of Guelph, Canada. She was born in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and is also citizen of Grenada. She studied at the University of the West Indies, Cave Campus in Barbados where she completed MSc. in Tourism and Hospitality Management and a BSc. in Management. She has research interest in agriculture and tourism linkages which promotes Sustainable Rural Development. Thomas-Francois has also worked both in the Agriculture and Tourism Sectors in Grenada. Her dissertation research investigated local food-hotel supply chains. She envisages contributing to development through the combination of modern management principles with natural and social capital for the improvement of livelihood
PurposeVirtual grocery shopping (VGS), or online grocery shopping, traditionally has seen slow ad... more PurposeVirtual grocery shopping (VGS), or online grocery shopping, traditionally has seen slow adoption in Canada; however, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced consumers to seek safer ways to shop. Retailers have invested in building new infrastructure to meet the current consumer demands for VGS. However, the main driver for VGS behaviour has not been yet clearly identified. Additionally, it is also not unknown whether the shopping modalities will continue VGS after the pandemic. This study provides insights into consumer intentions to use VGS by extending the model of goal-directed behaviour (MGB) to incorporate consumer technological readiness.Design/methodology/approachThe study collected 935 valid survey responses from an online survey panel of Canadian consumers. A two-step approach was applied to analyse the data, comprising confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM). The data quality and model fit were tested before testing the proposed relations...
International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide an alternative framework that will assist in under... more PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide an alternative framework that will assist in understanding the adoption of digital food shopping. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has exacerbated the demand for digital shopping, but the adoption of digital shopping for food has not accelerated as fast as in other product categories. This study considered the role of socio-cultural factors to understand the reason for slow adoption of digital technology to access food. A cultural framework that can be used to investigate socio-cultural factors in this context was lacking, however, this paper provides a discussion of social and cultural factors and developed measurement scales to assist in understanding cultural change acceptance in consumers' adoption of digital technology to purchase food.Design/methodology/approachUsing Hayes' process analysis, this paper investigated how cultural acceptance – mediated by consumer affection and appeal and measuring the moderat...
To harness the benefits from tourism opportunities, especially in developing destinations such as... more To harness the benefits from tourism opportunities, especially in developing destinations such as the Caribbean, better integration of accommodation facilities into local supply chains is imperative. Attributes such as location, accommodation types, business model, and amenities, among others, all contribute to the success of the property. Hotel management will arguably be considered vital to properties’ success, but service leadership appears to be of utmost importance. The extent to which appropriate this leadership is executed directly impacts the service outcomes and service quality. Judgments on the appropriateness of service leadership can only reasonably be made by employees and customers in a service oriented business model. This qualitative study investigated two hotel-local food supply chains based on a service-oriented framework. It was found that the hotel with a focus and emphasis on service throughout the supply chain – both forward towards the consumer and backward towards the supplier – had greater success in strengthening local food usage at the property
PurposeThis study was undertaken to investigate whether a service-oriented approach to the local ... more PurposeThis study was undertaken to investigate whether a service-oriented approach to the local food supply chain contributes to strengthened linkages between accommodation and agricultural sectors, thereby creating value for users.Design/methodology/approachThe qualitative study examined levels of customer/consumer engagement (CE) within theoretical constructs of the service-oriented framework and value co-creation, intangible resources and valued relationship within the value chain and food service. Also, two explanatory case studies were conducted on two accommodation properties.FindingsEmpirical findings indicated that the hospitality business which emphasized a consumer-centric service approach throughout the value chain – both forward (toward the consumer) and backward (toward the supplier) – had greater success in engaging customers. It also highlighted the importance of service leadership.Practical implicationsThe research study provides practical guidance to members of the...
ABSTRACT Conferences are funny events. They are self-evident elements of our lives as academics: ... more ABSTRACT Conferences are funny events. They are self-evident elements of our lives as academics: meetings that occur, often annually; take place in various locations; and involve (hopefully) like-minded people, aiming to share their latest research findings. Conferences are actually so self-evident that very little research exists analysing what takes place at conferences, why people attend them in the first place, and essentially what the conference does to delegates as participants. This article is, on one hand, a reflective report from an academic conference: TEFI 9—Celebrating the Disruptive Power of Caring in Tourism Education. But it is also simultaneously an analysis of the implicit and explicit rationale and return on investment for attending academic conferences, in the words of three, at that time, PhD candidate rapporteurs and one professor rapporteur, who acts as this article’s narrator.
PurposeSmart retail technology adoption models are largely focused on consumer perceptions of the... more PurposeSmart retail technology adoption models are largely focused on consumer perceptions of the technology and the characteristics of digital technologies. However, the impact of the prior-to-use knowledge of consumers on the adoption of the technologies has been understudied. This research examined to what extent social acceptance and consumer learning can facilitate consumer adoption of digital grocery shopping (DGS).Design/methodology/approachThis paper builds on the innovation–decision model to develop a framework to examine the impact of social acceptance and consumer learning on DGS. The research tested a structural model based on data collected from 611 North American participants.FindingsThis study found that the social acceptance of DGS directly and consumer learning indirectly affects the appeal of grocery shopping to consumers and consequently increases their intention to adopt this new shopping method. Furthermore, the results indicated that both hypothesised direction...
ABSTRACT Conferences are funny events. They are self-evident elements of our lives as academics: ... more ABSTRACT Conferences are funny events. They are self-evident elements of our lives as academics: meetings that occur, often annually; take place in various locations; and involve (hopefully) like-minded people, aiming to share their latest research findings. Conferences are actually so self-evident that very little research exists analysing what takes place at conferences, why people attend them in the first place, and essentially what the conference does to delegates as participants. This article is, on one hand, a reflective report from an academic conference: TEFI 9—Celebrating the Disruptive Power of Caring in Tourism Education. But it is also simultaneously an analysis of the implicit and explicit rationale and return on investment for attending academic conferences, in the words of three, at that time, PhD candidate rapporteurs and one professor rapporteur, who acts as this article’s narrator.
Inter-sectoral linkages have long been promoted as a viable means of economic development by Worl... more Inter-sectoral linkages have long been promoted as a viable means of economic development by World Bank affiliated economists (e.g., Konzinets, 1971; Rostow, 1971; Chenery & Syrquin, 1975; Linden & Mahmood, 2007). The belief is that the wider the inter-sector linkages, the greater their scope for spillover benefits in economies (Crespo and Fontoura 2007). It has been found that spillovers from a thriving sector can have positive impacts on others. For instance, research by Gemmell, Lloyd, and Mathew (2000) found that increases in manufacturing and services both impact positively on agriculture production in Malaysia. Inherently, the service sector has the capacity to forge strong inter-sectoral linkages because services are now a common thread through many other sectors (Grönroos 2007). Over the years, services have become prominent as a sector for economic development. Some of the world’s most advanced economies are driven by services with more than 70% of their gross domestic prod...
International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Retailing
: Research has shown very slow consumer adoption to new grocery
shopping options, particularly ... more : Research has shown very slow consumer adoption to new grocery
shopping options, particularly virtual shopping in North America. While
consumers have been willing to purchase objects virtually, there is an inherent
scepticism in purchasing food using these modes. Research has also shown
while this may be the case in some western countries, eastern countries such as
China have seen different acceptance. Urban eastern consumers have embraced
virtual shopping and have already moved to hybrid shopping modes including
smart grocery shopping. This paper reviews theoretical assumptions which
may explain a shift in western consumer’s behavioural changes and posits a
hypothetical conceptual framework for future empirical investigations. The
framework advances the idea that cultural change acceptance may be an
antecedent to other social factors such as consumer learning, affective factors,
cognitive factors, normative appeals among others, trust, perceived privacy and
security, and these provide links to the adoption to these new retail modalities.
International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management
PurposeIt has generally been anticipated that the growth of Internet technology and e-commerce wo... more PurposeIt has generally been anticipated that the growth of Internet technology and e-commerce would result in virtual grocery shopping (VGS) becoming a normal way of life for consumers worldwide. However, the adoption of VGS, except in China and other Asian countries, has been quite slow and there is little understanding for this reason. Using Canada as a research context, the purpose of this study was to investigate the attitudes of consumers towards VGS with a focus on their technological readiness and the impact of the optimisation of consumer learning.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative research methodology was undertaken using cluster analysis with descriptive statistics to segment the different groups of consumers from a sample of 1,034 adult respondents. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was then used to test a theoretical model for consumers’ intention to adopt VGS.FindingsThe study found that the attitudes of consumers towards virtual shopping, convenience motivati...
PurposeVirtual grocery shopping (VGS), or online grocery shopping, traditionally has seen slow ad... more PurposeVirtual grocery shopping (VGS), or online grocery shopping, traditionally has seen slow adoption in Canada; however, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced consumers to seek safer ways to shop. Retailers have invested in building new infrastructure to meet the current consumer demands for VGS. However, the main driver for VGS behaviour has not been yet clearly identified. Additionally, it is also not unknown whether the shopping modalities will continue VGS after the pandemic. This study provides insights into consumer intentions to use VGS by extending the model of goal-directed behaviour (MGB) to incorporate consumer technological readiness.Design/methodology/approachThe study collected 935 valid survey responses from an online survey panel of Canadian consumers. A two-step approach was applied to analyse the data, comprising confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM). The data quality and model fit were tested before testing the proposed relations...
International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide an alternative framework that will assist in under... more PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide an alternative framework that will assist in understanding the adoption of digital food shopping. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has exacerbated the demand for digital shopping, but the adoption of digital shopping for food has not accelerated as fast as in other product categories. This study considered the role of socio-cultural factors to understand the reason for slow adoption of digital technology to access food. A cultural framework that can be used to investigate socio-cultural factors in this context was lacking, however, this paper provides a discussion of social and cultural factors and developed measurement scales to assist in understanding cultural change acceptance in consumers' adoption of digital technology to purchase food.Design/methodology/approachUsing Hayes' process analysis, this paper investigated how cultural acceptance – mediated by consumer affection and appeal and measuring the moderat...
To harness the benefits from tourism opportunities, especially in developing destinations such as... more To harness the benefits from tourism opportunities, especially in developing destinations such as the Caribbean, better integration of accommodation facilities into local supply chains is imperative. Attributes such as location, accommodation types, business model, and amenities, among others, all contribute to the success of the property. Hotel management will arguably be considered vital to properties’ success, but service leadership appears to be of utmost importance. The extent to which appropriate this leadership is executed directly impacts the service outcomes and service quality. Judgments on the appropriateness of service leadership can only reasonably be made by employees and customers in a service oriented business model. This qualitative study investigated two hotel-local food supply chains based on a service-oriented framework. It was found that the hotel with a focus and emphasis on service throughout the supply chain – both forward towards the consumer and backward towards the supplier – had greater success in strengthening local food usage at the property
PurposeThis study was undertaken to investigate whether a service-oriented approach to the local ... more PurposeThis study was undertaken to investigate whether a service-oriented approach to the local food supply chain contributes to strengthened linkages between accommodation and agricultural sectors, thereby creating value for users.Design/methodology/approachThe qualitative study examined levels of customer/consumer engagement (CE) within theoretical constructs of the service-oriented framework and value co-creation, intangible resources and valued relationship within the value chain and food service. Also, two explanatory case studies were conducted on two accommodation properties.FindingsEmpirical findings indicated that the hospitality business which emphasized a consumer-centric service approach throughout the value chain – both forward (toward the consumer) and backward (toward the supplier) – had greater success in engaging customers. It also highlighted the importance of service leadership.Practical implicationsThe research study provides practical guidance to members of the...
ABSTRACT Conferences are funny events. They are self-evident elements of our lives as academics: ... more ABSTRACT Conferences are funny events. They are self-evident elements of our lives as academics: meetings that occur, often annually; take place in various locations; and involve (hopefully) like-minded people, aiming to share their latest research findings. Conferences are actually so self-evident that very little research exists analysing what takes place at conferences, why people attend them in the first place, and essentially what the conference does to delegates as participants. This article is, on one hand, a reflective report from an academic conference: TEFI 9—Celebrating the Disruptive Power of Caring in Tourism Education. But it is also simultaneously an analysis of the implicit and explicit rationale and return on investment for attending academic conferences, in the words of three, at that time, PhD candidate rapporteurs and one professor rapporteur, who acts as this article’s narrator.
PurposeSmart retail technology adoption models are largely focused on consumer perceptions of the... more PurposeSmart retail technology adoption models are largely focused on consumer perceptions of the technology and the characteristics of digital technologies. However, the impact of the prior-to-use knowledge of consumers on the adoption of the technologies has been understudied. This research examined to what extent social acceptance and consumer learning can facilitate consumer adoption of digital grocery shopping (DGS).Design/methodology/approachThis paper builds on the innovation–decision model to develop a framework to examine the impact of social acceptance and consumer learning on DGS. The research tested a structural model based on data collected from 611 North American participants.FindingsThis study found that the social acceptance of DGS directly and consumer learning indirectly affects the appeal of grocery shopping to consumers and consequently increases their intention to adopt this new shopping method. Furthermore, the results indicated that both hypothesised direction...
ABSTRACT Conferences are funny events. They are self-evident elements of our lives as academics: ... more ABSTRACT Conferences are funny events. They are self-evident elements of our lives as academics: meetings that occur, often annually; take place in various locations; and involve (hopefully) like-minded people, aiming to share their latest research findings. Conferences are actually so self-evident that very little research exists analysing what takes place at conferences, why people attend them in the first place, and essentially what the conference does to delegates as participants. This article is, on one hand, a reflective report from an academic conference: TEFI 9—Celebrating the Disruptive Power of Caring in Tourism Education. But it is also simultaneously an analysis of the implicit and explicit rationale and return on investment for attending academic conferences, in the words of three, at that time, PhD candidate rapporteurs and one professor rapporteur, who acts as this article’s narrator.
Inter-sectoral linkages have long been promoted as a viable means of economic development by Worl... more Inter-sectoral linkages have long been promoted as a viable means of economic development by World Bank affiliated economists (e.g., Konzinets, 1971; Rostow, 1971; Chenery & Syrquin, 1975; Linden & Mahmood, 2007). The belief is that the wider the inter-sector linkages, the greater their scope for spillover benefits in economies (Crespo and Fontoura 2007). It has been found that spillovers from a thriving sector can have positive impacts on others. For instance, research by Gemmell, Lloyd, and Mathew (2000) found that increases in manufacturing and services both impact positively on agriculture production in Malaysia. Inherently, the service sector has the capacity to forge strong inter-sectoral linkages because services are now a common thread through many other sectors (Grönroos 2007). Over the years, services have become prominent as a sector for economic development. Some of the world’s most advanced economies are driven by services with more than 70% of their gross domestic prod...
International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Retailing
: Research has shown very slow consumer adoption to new grocery
shopping options, particularly ... more : Research has shown very slow consumer adoption to new grocery
shopping options, particularly virtual shopping in North America. While
consumers have been willing to purchase objects virtually, there is an inherent
scepticism in purchasing food using these modes. Research has also shown
while this may be the case in some western countries, eastern countries such as
China have seen different acceptance. Urban eastern consumers have embraced
virtual shopping and have already moved to hybrid shopping modes including
smart grocery shopping. This paper reviews theoretical assumptions which
may explain a shift in western consumer’s behavioural changes and posits a
hypothetical conceptual framework for future empirical investigations. The
framework advances the idea that cultural change acceptance may be an
antecedent to other social factors such as consumer learning, affective factors,
cognitive factors, normative appeals among others, trust, perceived privacy and
security, and these provide links to the adoption to these new retail modalities.
International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management
PurposeIt has generally been anticipated that the growth of Internet technology and e-commerce wo... more PurposeIt has generally been anticipated that the growth of Internet technology and e-commerce would result in virtual grocery shopping (VGS) becoming a normal way of life for consumers worldwide. However, the adoption of VGS, except in China and other Asian countries, has been quite slow and there is little understanding for this reason. Using Canada as a research context, the purpose of this study was to investigate the attitudes of consumers towards VGS with a focus on their technological readiness and the impact of the optimisation of consumer learning.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative research methodology was undertaken using cluster analysis with descriptive statistics to segment the different groups of consumers from a sample of 1,034 adult respondents. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was then used to test a theoretical model for consumers’ intention to adopt VGS.FindingsThe study found that the attitudes of consumers towards virtual shopping, convenience motivati...
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Papers by Kimberly Thomas-Francois
shopping options, particularly virtual shopping in North America. While
consumers have been willing to purchase objects virtually, there is an inherent
scepticism in purchasing food using these modes. Research has also shown
while this may be the case in some western countries, eastern countries such as
China have seen different acceptance. Urban eastern consumers have embraced
virtual shopping and have already moved to hybrid shopping modes including
smart grocery shopping. This paper reviews theoretical assumptions which
may explain a shift in western consumer’s behavioural changes and posits a
hypothetical conceptual framework for future empirical investigations. The
framework advances the idea that cultural change acceptance may be an
antecedent to other social factors such as consumer learning, affective factors,
cognitive factors, normative appeals among others, trust, perceived privacy and
security, and these provide links to the adoption to these new retail modalities.
shopping options, particularly virtual shopping in North America. While
consumers have been willing to purchase objects virtually, there is an inherent
scepticism in purchasing food using these modes. Research has also shown
while this may be the case in some western countries, eastern countries such as
China have seen different acceptance. Urban eastern consumers have embraced
virtual shopping and have already moved to hybrid shopping modes including
smart grocery shopping. This paper reviews theoretical assumptions which
may explain a shift in western consumer’s behavioural changes and posits a
hypothetical conceptual framework for future empirical investigations. The
framework advances the idea that cultural change acceptance may be an
antecedent to other social factors such as consumer learning, affective factors,
cognitive factors, normative appeals among others, trust, perceived privacy and
security, and these provide links to the adoption to these new retail modalities.