- Department of Management
Faculty of Law and Managem
Reduit
Mauritius
Robin Nunkoo, Ph.D
University of Mauritius, Faculty of Law & Management, Faculty Member
- Griffith University, Griffith Institute for Tourism, AdjunctUniversity of Johannesburg, South Africa, Faculty of Management, Department MemberUniversity of Surrey, Faculty of Business, Economics and Law, Adjunctadd
- Political Economy, Governance, Voting Behavior, Public Trust Doctrine, Economics, Tourism Studies, and 19 moreEconomics of Tourism, Sustainable Tourism, Tourism Development Impacts Towards Local Community, Tourism Management, Theories in Tourism, Tourism Community Development, Travel Behaviour, Tourism Marketing, Mauritius & the Mascarene Islands, Tourism Impacts, Local Government, Good Governance, Gender, National government, Leadership, Public Administration, Development, Party System, and Environmental Sustainabilityedit
- I am a Professor in the Department of Management, Faculty of Law and Management, University of Mauritius. I was the ... moreI am a Professor in the Department of Management, Faculty of Law and Management, University of Mauritius. I was the Head, Department of Management between 2014 and 2016. I am also a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Faculty of Management, University of Johannesburg, South Africa, and an Adjunct Professor at Griffith Institute for Tourism, Griffith University.
I hold a PhD from the University of Waterloo, Canada. I was the recipient of the University of Waterloo International Doctoral Scholarship and the Graduate Scholarship (Total value: CAN $ 110,000.00). I also hold hold a Master of Philosophy (2010, University of Mauritius), supervised by Dr. Dogan Gursoy, Distinguished Professor at Washington State University, USA; a Master's degree in Tourism Management (2005); a Master's degree in Development Administration (2003), both from the University of Westminster, UK; and a Bachelor's degree in Economics (2001) from the University of Mumbai, India.
I am an economist by academic training, specializing in political economy. My current research draws widely from political science and investigates the interplay among citizens' trust (distrust) in government (and institutions), power issues in development, and political support for development and government policies. I also research on corruption in government, voting behaviors of citizens, and political party affiliations in democratic economies. I am also interested in citizens' political support for tourism policies and planning implemented by the government.
I have been honored with the Emerging Scholar of Distinction Award 2014 by International Academy for the Study of Tourism (IAST) for exceptional contributions to tourism research. The award will be conferred on me in May 2015, Rhodes, Greece. I am also recognized as one of the top 50 researchers (ranked 21st) in tourism based on publications in leading tourism journals in the second decade of the new millennium (2010-2019): Cao, Y (2020). Hospitality and tourism research rankings by author, university, and country using six major journals: The second decade of the new millennium. Iowa State University: US. Available from https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/18017
I am the Associate Editor for the Journal of Hospitality Marketing and Management, a Resource Editor for Annals of Tourism Research, and the Regional Editor (Africa) for the Journal of China Tourism Research. I am also an editorial board member of several leading academic journals.edit
As research in tourism and hospitality reaches maturity, a growing number of methodological approaches are being utilized and, in addition, this knowledge is dispersed across a wide range of journals. Consequently there is a broad and... more
As research in tourism and hospitality reaches maturity, a growing number of methodological approaches are being utilized and, in addition, this knowledge is dispersed across a wide range of journals. Consequently there is a broad and multidisciplinary community of tourism and hospitality researchers whom, at present, need to look widely for support on methods. In this volume, researchers fulfil a pressing need by clearly presenting methodological issues within tourism and hospitality research alongside particular methods and share their experiences of what works, what does not work and where challenges and innovations lie.
Research Interests:
The dynamics of trust and distrust are central to understanding modern society, social relations, and development processes. However, numerous studies suggest that societal trust and citizen’s trust in government and its institutions are... more
The dynamics of trust and distrust are central to understanding modern society, social relations, and development processes. However, numerous studies suggest that societal trust and citizen’s trust in government and its institutions are on the decline, challenging the legitimacy of government and leading to an undemocratic and unsustainable form of development. Recognizing its importance, the authors for the first time situate trust within the context of tourism development and planning. This volume discusses trust in tourism from different yet intrinsically connected perspectives. Chapters review how diminishing societal trust may have adversely affected tourism planning systems, the role of trust in good tourism governance and sustainable tourism, how trust can be used as a facilitator of participatory tourism planning, political trust in tourism institutions, power and how tourism development can be a basis for trust creation among society members by using social capital theory. In addition, a final section on ‘Researching Trust in Tourism Development’ means that readers are not only provided a thorough theoretical framework on trust and an understanding of its importance for sustainable tourism and good governance of the sector, but also methodological aspects of research on trust in the context of tourism development and planning. This significant volume is valuable reading for students, academics and researchers interested in tourism development and planning.
Research Interests: Tourism Studies, Government, Trust, Political Science, Governance, and 11 morePolitics, Urban And Regional Planning, Tourism Impacts, Social Capital, Trust, Happiness, Destination Marketing, Risk and crisis management, Tourism Planning & Development, Environmental Preservation through Tourism, Alterations in Urban Island Tourism Destinations, Tourism Flows, and Tourism Sustainability
Scholars acknowledge the crucial role of values in influencing behavior and market choices. This paper examines the role of consumption values in influencing destination image and travel behavior by proposing a destination image formation... more
Scholars acknowledge the crucial role of values in influencing behavior and market choices. This paper examines the role of consumption values in influencing destination image and travel behavior by proposing a destination image formation model. Having as theoretical base the means-end chain theory and the theory of consumption values, the model suggests that destination image is a function of five consumption values and that these in turn influence travel behavior. The essay discusses some pertinent issues with respect to the measurement of such values. This involves conducting in-depth interviews based on the laddering technique, developing a structured questionnaire based on data from laddering, applying fuzzy logic to quantify the consumption values, and finally using k-means clustering to define segments of travelers holding similar images of the destination. The paper emphasizes that combined use of a qualitative data collection method such as laddering with a structured questionnaire is an effective way of researching consumption values and their influence on image and travel behavior. The study also discusses a k-means clustering approach to define segments of travelers holding similar images of a destination and the degree of membership of travelers to each value. The paper concludes that segmenting travelers based on their consumption values enables destination marketers to better understand travelers' behavior. Value research has particular application for market analysis, segmentation, destination product planning, and promotional strategies. This paper contributes to the very limited number of studies that analyze the influence of consumption values on destination image and travel behavior. The theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches that the paper proposes are also new contributions to destination image studies. However, the paper does not empirically test the theoretical frameworks and methodological steps. To contribute further to this field of study, scholars should attempt to empirically test the approaches that the study discusses.
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This final response to the two climate change denial papers by Shani and Arad further highlights the inaccuracies, misinformation and errors in their commentaries. The obfuscation of scientific research and the consensus on anthropogenic... more
This final response to the two climate change denial papers by Shani and Arad further highlights the inaccuracies, misinformation and errors in their commentaries. The obfuscation of scientific research and the consensus on anthropogenic climate change may have significant long-term negative consequences for better understanding the implications of climate change and climate policy for tourism and create confusion and delay in developing and implementing tourism sector responses.
Keywords: Climate change; Global warming; Skepticism; Denial; Agnotology
Keywords: Climate change; Global warming; Skepticism; Denial; Agnotology
Research Interests:
Shani and Arad (2014) claimed that tourism scholars tend to endorse the most pessimistic assessments regarding climate change, and that anthropogenic climate change was a “fashionable” and “highly controversial scientific topic”. This... more
Shani and Arad (2014) claimed that tourism scholars tend to endorse the most pessimistic assessments regarding climate change, and that anthropogenic climate change was a “fashionable” and “highly controversial scientific topic”. This brief rejoinder provides the balance that is missing from such climate change denial and skepticism studies on climate change and tourism. Recent research provides substantial evidence that reports on anthropogenic climate change are accurate, and that human-induced greenhouse gas emissions, including from the tourism industry, play a significant role in climate change. Some positive net effects may be experienced by some destinations in the short-term, but in the long-term all elements of the tourism system will be impacted. The expansion of tourism emissions at a rate greater than efficiency gains means that it is increasingly urgent that the tourism sector acknowledge, accept and respond to climate change. Debate on tourism-related adaptation and mitigation measures is to be encouraged and welcomed. Climate change denial is not.
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The 21 st century has embraced technology at such a speed that its evolution needs continuous monitoring. This has impacted the tourism ecosystem and is a cause for concern for destination marketers. Either they adopt technology or they... more
The 21 st century has embraced technology at such a speed that its evolution needs continuous monitoring. This has impacted the tourism ecosystem and is a cause for concern for destination marketers. Either they adopt technology or they phase out in the competitive tourism market. Encouraging customer loyalty is a way to cushion a destination from competition. Loyal tourists will revisit the same destination over time and are less difficult to serve. Additionally, repeat tourists bring various benefits to a destination such as profitability, the spread of positive word of mouth and less churn behaviours. Since 1920, the concept of loyalty has been evolving and unpacked by many researchers in the tourism literature. However, little research has been directed on the influence of social media and its linkages to tourist loyalty. Social media being easily accessible and user-friendly has changed the way tourists behave. The adoption of social media amongst customers is an emerging phenomenon and is encouraging tourists to be more present online. Tourists are engaging in online communication to various stakeholders of the tourism industry. This created a shift in businesses that have to supply their services online as opposed to the traditional face to face services. While providing online services to tourists is a new trend, it changes the various aspects to tourist behaviours. For instance, does social media engage trust in tourists and does this affect the antecedents of tourist loyalty? Trust in social media is a key determinant to this study as if tourists do not trust social media; negative relationships with antecedents of tourist loyalty would be outlined. It is proposed that if tourists do not trust social media, they would not see the destination images online as trustworthy. This would discourage tourists to visit destinations or believe any communication present online which should have triggered loyalty behaviours. Furthermore, satisfied tourists will not share positive word of mouth online and this will not motivate prospective tourists to visit a particular destination. Additionally, consumption emotion will not be shared online and this lack of information on online platforms might make a destination vulnerable to compete. Hence the need to further clarify the importance of the construct trust in social media and its influence on tourist loyalty, tourist satisfaction and consumption emotion. The objectives of this study are therefore to assess the shift in the relationships between tourist loyalty and trust in social media. Since tourist loyalty is linked to key antecedents such as destination image and tourist satisfaction, the relationships between these antecedents will be tested. Furthermore, the emotion involved in the consumption of tourism services that is consumption will also be determined. Overall, the findings of this study will determine if loyalty behaviours are the same with and without the influence of social media or is there a need to remodel the tourist loyalty model. The anticipated methodology for this study is of quantitative approach. The new conceptual model will be tested through structural equation modeling to analyse the various relationships between tourist loyalty and its antecedents and trust in social media.
Early studies on residents' attitudes to tourism were criticized for being atheoretical. As a result, it was not clear to researchers how, why, and in what conditions residents of a destination react to the impacts of tourism. To address... more
Early studies on residents' attitudes to tourism were criticized for being atheoretical. As a result, it was not clear to researchers how, why, and in what conditions residents of a destination react to the impacts of tourism. To address these shortcomings, researchers started making use of a number of theories, among which, the Social Exchange Theory (SET) is considered to have made the most important theoretical contribution to studies on residents' perceptions of tourism. This paper critically analyzes the different elements involved in the social exchange process between residents of a destination and the tourism industry. It analyzes the core constructs of the SET and in particular, focuses on power and trust between the actors in the exchange process. The arguments suggest that researchers have failed to integrate these core concepts in a single study to investigate their influence on residents' perceptions of tourism and their support for development. The paper suggests that the power and trust concepts have significant potential in explaining community acceptance of tourism and if this field of study is to be advanced theoretically, then researchers should empirically test these concepts in an integrative framework.
Research Interests:
There is little consensus on the dimensions of social media attachment, conceptualized as a unidimensional construct by some scholars and multidimensional by others. The conceptual labels given to those dimensions also differ across... more
There is little consensus on the dimensions of social media attachment, conceptualized as a unidimensional construct by some scholars and multidimensional by others. The conceptual labels given to those dimensions also differ across studies, posing challenges to researchers. This study addresses some of those conceptual issues by developing a formative index of social media attachment. It employs a two-staged methodology involving interviews that are used to develop the items and elicit the dimensions of attachment and a survey to test the index empirically. The results provide support for an eight-item parsimonious index that captures the multifaceted nature of social media attachment: connecting/socializing; keeping up to date; dependence; dysfunctional use; expressing feelings; self-presentation; seeking self-esteem; and seeking knowledge. The index displays sound psychometric properties and is nomologically valid. Theoretically, it reflects the various conceptualizations of social media attachment in a single short measure. The index is also practically useful to researchers.
Research Interests: Marketing, Psychology, Social Networks, Addiction, Social Networking, and 9 moreSocial Media, Attachment Theory, Social Networking Sites (SNS), Public Relations & Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Organizational Use of Social Media, Social Networking & Social Media, Social Media Addiction, and Theories of Social Networking Sites
Motivated by the current local travel restrictions imposed by most countries around the world, we examine the relationship between domestic travels and the COVID-19 cases and deaths. We use data from more than 90 countries and apply... more
Motivated by the current local travel restrictions imposed by most countries around the world, we examine the relationship between domestic travels and the COVID-19 cases and deaths. We use data from more than 90 countries and apply multivariate regressions for two different periods (January-June 2020 and July-December 2020). We control for a number of variables, including the Covid-19 Government Response Stringency Index, which is very comprehensive in its conceptualization. Using 2SLS estimators, we provide evidence that countries with higher levels of domestic travels experienced higher levels of COVID-19 cases and deaths over the first six months of pandemic. However, domestic tourism decorrelated with the pandemic spread from July to December 2020. Theoretically, we demonstrate that during the early stages of Covid-19 domestic tourism is potentially a vector of the virus spread, but once a country is hit by the pandemic, other local factors take precedence. Practically, these findings provide empirical support to governments policies to restrict residents' non-essential domestic travels to reduce spreading the virus during the first few months of the pandemic.
Research Interests:
Use of both verbal and nonverbal cues in computer-mediated communication can influence customers' perceptions and their behavioral intentions. Drawing on the compensation effect theory, this study investigates how verbal and nonverbal... more
Use of both verbal and nonverbal cues in computer-mediated communication can influence customers' perceptions and their behavioral intentions. Drawing on the compensation effect theory, this study investigates how verbal and nonverbal cues used by customer service agents during online service recovery processes affect customers' perceptions of service chat agents' warmth and competence and their willingness to cooperate with a service agent to complete the service recovery process. A 2 (message interactivity cues: high vs. low) × 2 (visual cues: high vs. low) between-subjects experimental design is utilized to identify the main and interaction effects of verbal and visual nonverbal cues used in online communications on customers attitudes and behaviors. Results show that use of verbal cues leads to higher perception of a chat agent's competence, but lower perception of a chat agent's warmth while use of visual nonverbal cues results in higher warmth perceptions but lower competence perceptions. The interaction effect of verbal and visual nonverbal cues indicates that visual nonverbal cues have a compensatory effect on message interactivity and vice versa, such that customer-perceived warmth and competence are prone to trade-offs between verbal cues and visual nonverbal cues. Furthermore, perceived warmth and competence mediate the indirect effects of verbal and nonverbal cues on customers' cooperation intentions. Theoretical and practical implications of use of verbal and nonverbal cues during online communications in service recovery processes are discussed.
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Purpose: Food waste at the household level represents a major component of all food waste. Therefore minimizing food waste at the household level remains an important component of the food chain responsibility. This study explores the... more
Purpose: Food waste at the household level represents a major component of all food waste. Therefore minimizing food waste at the household level remains an important component of the food chain responsibility. This study explores the problem of food waste in Mauritius through an understanding of households' attitudes toward food waste and their motivations and barriers to food waste recycling.
Design/methodology/approach-The study uses a grounded theory approach to identify thematic categories that represent participants' attitudes toward food waste and the barriers they face to food waste reduction. We used a purposive sampling technique to guide the selection of participants. Interviews were conducted with 14 participants: three experts in food waste and 11 households. The data were analyzed using the tools of grounded theory.
Findings-Participants' expressed views on food waste included (1) guilt toward wasting food; (2) (lack of) environmental awareness; (3) financial considerations and (4) exemption from responsibility. The findings also led to the development of four themes that defined the barriers participants face to recycling food waste: (1) lack of awareness; (2) space limitations on recycling methods; (3) inadequate policy and (4) lack of time/priority.
Practical implications-Addressing the problem of food waste requires a holistic approach that takes into account households' attitudes to food waste, their motivation and barriers to food waste recycling as well as the regulatory and institutional framework governing food waste management in Mauritius. Policymakers should try to improve households' knowledge about food waste through educational campaigns. The authorities can provide different types of bins to households freely to facilitate the sorting out of waste and impose a fee for food waste generated beyond a certain limit or provide subsidies to them for handling food waste properly.
Originality/value-The management of food waste is particularly challenging for small islands developing states because of their unique characteristics of smallness, limited resources and environmental vulnerability. Appropriate interventions to reduce household food waste require place-based and geographically sensitive analyses that take into account the specificities of local food and waste management systems and cultural norms with respect to food. However, there is not only a paucity of research on household food waste, but most studies have been carried out in nonisland economies. The study contributes to the limited research on household food waste in small islands.
Design/methodology/approach-The study uses a grounded theory approach to identify thematic categories that represent participants' attitudes toward food waste and the barriers they face to food waste reduction. We used a purposive sampling technique to guide the selection of participants. Interviews were conducted with 14 participants: three experts in food waste and 11 households. The data were analyzed using the tools of grounded theory.
Findings-Participants' expressed views on food waste included (1) guilt toward wasting food; (2) (lack of) environmental awareness; (3) financial considerations and (4) exemption from responsibility. The findings also led to the development of four themes that defined the barriers participants face to recycling food waste: (1) lack of awareness; (2) space limitations on recycling methods; (3) inadequate policy and (4) lack of time/priority.
Practical implications-Addressing the problem of food waste requires a holistic approach that takes into account households' attitudes to food waste, their motivation and barriers to food waste recycling as well as the regulatory and institutional framework governing food waste management in Mauritius. Policymakers should try to improve households' knowledge about food waste through educational campaigns. The authorities can provide different types of bins to households freely to facilitate the sorting out of waste and impose a fee for food waste generated beyond a certain limit or provide subsidies to them for handling food waste properly.
Originality/value-The management of food waste is particularly challenging for small islands developing states because of their unique characteristics of smallness, limited resources and environmental vulnerability. Appropriate interventions to reduce household food waste require place-based and geographically sensitive analyses that take into account the specificities of local food and waste management systems and cultural norms with respect to food. However, there is not only a paucity of research on household food waste, but most studies have been carried out in nonisland economies. The study contributes to the limited research on household food waste in small islands.
Research Interests:
This Delphi study formulates the most probable future scenario for the accommodation sharing sector within the next five to ten years. It addresses six thematic aspects: relevance, different forms of accommodation sharing, users, hosts,... more
This Delphi study formulates the most probable future scenario for the accommodation sharing sector within the next five to ten years. It addresses six thematic aspects: relevance, different forms of accommodation sharing, users, hosts, platforms, and finally, industry regulation. We identify the most likely holistic future scenario by conducting a two-stage Delphi study involving 59 expert panelists. It addresses 33 projections for six thematic sections of the accommodation sharing industry: relevance, different forms of accommodation sharing, users, hosts, platforms, and finally, industry regulation. The results indicate that the number of shared accommodations and users of home-sharing will increase. Moreover, the cost advantage is the predominant driver for users to engage in the accommodation sharing segment, and for the hosts, the generation of an extra income is the primary incentive. Finally, the regulation within this industry is expected to be more effective in the foreseeable future. The results are critical, not only to advance our theoretical understanding and stimulate critical discussions on the long-term development of accommodation sharing but also to assist governments and policymakers who have an interest in developing and regulating this sector and developers seeking business opportunities. While there is ample knowledge about the past and current development of accommodation sharing in tourism, little is understood about its potential future development and implications for consumers, the economy, and society. To date, no scientific research is available that develops scenarios about the future of accommodation sharing.
Research Interests:
Much of the existing scholarly debate on sharing economy to date has focused on the use of technology in developed countries. However, the recent upsurge of mobile technology adoption in developing countries has provided suitable breeding... more
Much of the existing scholarly debate on sharing economy to date has focused on the use of technology in developed countries. However, the recent upsurge of mobile technology adoption in developing countries has provided suitable breeding ground for sharing economy. The lack of native theories in tourism and hospitality sector with scare utilization of unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) provide necessity for this research. This study adapted meta-UTAUT model as theoretical lens and extended the model with hedonic motivation, trust, and self-efficacy. Based on data from 301 potential Indian consumers, the results underscored the central role of attitude that significantly mediated the effects of effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions on consumer intention to use Airbnb. Meanwhile, performance expectancy emerged as significant direct determinant of intention alongside attitude, trust, and self-efficacy. The proposed model explained as much as 65% variance on Indian consumer's intention to use Airbnb.
Research Interests:
This study examines the relationship between international tourism and COVID-19 cases and associated deaths in more than 90 nations. We use a crosscountry regression analysis and find a positive correlation between international tourism... more
This study examines the relationship between international tourism and COVID-19 cases and associated deaths in more than 90 nations. We use a crosscountry regression analysis and find a positive correlation between international tourism and the cumulated level of COVID-19 confirmed cases and death by 30 April 2020. Our regression analyses show that countries exposed to high flows of international tourism are more prone to cases and deaths caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. This association is robust even after controlling of other socioeconomic determinants of COVID-19 outbreak and regional dummies. Based on our estimations, a one percent higher level of inbound and outbound tourism is associated with 1.2% and 1.4% higher levels of confirmed COVID-19 cases and death respectively, controlling for other factors. When we normalize the number of cases and death by size of population, the statistical significance remains robust, especially for the COVID-19 deaths, while the effect size reduces.
Research Interests:
This research contributes to customer satisfaction knowledge with regard to accommodation in South Africa whose star grading differs. A multi-group analysis and an importance-performance map analysis by means of PLS-SEM allow us to... more
This research contributes to customer satisfaction knowledge with regard to accommodation in South Africa whose star grading differs. A multi-group analysis and an importance-performance map analysis by means of PLS-SEM allow us to differentiate between service quality performance scores and their influence on customer satisfaction across accommodation with a different start grading. The two most important predictors of satisfaction with one-star and two-star category accommodation are the accommodation infrastructure and the employee expertise. Both predictors were found to have relatively low levels of performance. Safety and security and room quality are two significant determinants of satisfaction with three-star establishments, although they under-perform with regard to safety and security. In respect of four-star and five-star accommodation, waiting time and customer interaction, both of which have an above average performance score, influence customer satisfaction. We provide specific guidelines for managerial interventions to improve service quality and guests’ satisfaction for each grading category.
Research Interests: Marketing, Tourism Studies, Tourism Marketing, Services Marketing and Management, Hospitality Management, and 8 moreStructural Equation Modeling, PLS (Partial Least Squares) Methods, Customer Satisfaction, Hospitality, Tourism, Travel and Tourism Industry, Hotel Management, and Hospitality and Tourism Management
The study validates the higher education service quality (HESQUAL) scale using a confirmatory approach and tests an improved structural model that predicts student loyalty from image, perceived value, satisfaction, and service quality.... more
The study validates the higher education service quality (HESQUAL) scale using a confirmatory approach and tests an improved structural model that predicts student loyalty from image, perceived value, satisfaction, and service quality. The model delineates service quality into the functional and transformative (technical) aspects and treats functional service quality as a second-order factor comprising of nine sub-dimensions. The model is tested using data collected from 501 students enrolled in different higher education institutions in Mauritius. Results indicate that student satisfaction is influenced by technical service quality, image, and perceived value, but not by functional service quality. Both dimensions of service quality are significant predictors of image and perceived value. Theoretically, the study uses a comprehensive measure of service quality and demonstrates that it is worthwhile to consider functional service quality as higher-order model. Furthermore, the study distinguishes between functional and technical quality given their importance in shaping students' perceptions and behaviors.
Research Interests:
Purpose – This study analyses the determinants of an effective performance management system (PMS) in the public sector of Mauritius. It develops a theoretical model that has its roots in the resource-based theory and the institutional... more
Purpose – This study analyses the determinants of an effective performance management system (PMS) in the public sector of Mauritius. It develops a theoretical model that has its roots in the resource-based theory and the institutional theory.
Design/methodology/approach – The study uses a quantitative approach, making use of a structured questionnaire to collect data from 158 public sector organisations. Both email and postal methods were used for data collection. A hierarchical regression analysis is used to assess the effect of the organisational factors on PMS effectiveness, while controlling for a number of organisational profile variables.
Findings – Results indicate that PMS is only moderately effective. Managers’ involvement, senior management involvement and performance feedback are significant predictors of PMSs effectiveness.
Research limitations/implications – Findings of the study may have limited applicability to developed and industrialised countries and even developing countries that have a different public sector culture to that of
Mauritius.
Practical implications – The findings demonstrate that the effectiveness of PMSs is strongly reliant on the involvement of senior management. Accordingly, public sector managers should ensure that they are fully
committed and engaged in performance management tasks.
Originality/value – The study contributes to the limited research on the effectiveness of PMSs in developing countries that have a different bureaucratic and performance culture to that of developed nations.
Design/methodology/approach – The study uses a quantitative approach, making use of a structured questionnaire to collect data from 158 public sector organisations. Both email and postal methods were used for data collection. A hierarchical regression analysis is used to assess the effect of the organisational factors on PMS effectiveness, while controlling for a number of organisational profile variables.
Findings – Results indicate that PMS is only moderately effective. Managers’ involvement, senior management involvement and performance feedback are significant predictors of PMSs effectiveness.
Research limitations/implications – Findings of the study may have limited applicability to developed and industrialised countries and even developing countries that have a different public sector culture to that of
Mauritius.
Practical implications – The findings demonstrate that the effectiveness of PMSs is strongly reliant on the involvement of senior management. Accordingly, public sector managers should ensure that they are fully
committed and engaged in performance management tasks.
Originality/value – The study contributes to the limited research on the effectiveness of PMSs in developing countries that have a different bureaucratic and performance culture to that of developed nations.
Research Interests:
This study develops and empirically tests a theoretical model of Artificially Intelligent (AI) Device Use Acceptance (AIDUA) that aims to explain customers’ willingness to accept AI device use in service encounters. The proposed model... more
This study develops and empirically tests a theoretical model of Artificially Intelligent (AI) Device Use Acceptance (AIDUA) that aims to explain customers’ willingness to accept AI device use in service encounters. The proposed model incorporates three acceptance generation stages (primary appraisal, secondary appraisal, and outcome stage) and six antecedents (social influence, hedonic motivation, anthropomorphism, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and emotion). Utilizing data collected from potential customers, the proposed AIDUA model is tested. Findings suggest that customers go through a three-step acceptance generation process in determining whether to accept the use of AI devices during their service interactions. Findings indicate that social influence and hedonic motivation are positively related to performance expectancy while anthropomorphism is positively related to effort expectancy. Both performance and effort expectancy are significant antecedents of customer emotions, which determines customers’ acceptance of AI device use in service encounters. This study provides a conceptual AI device acceptance framework that can be used by other researchers to better investigate AI related topics in the service context.
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This study focuses on the link between tourists' satisfaction with the quality of airport services at a destination and their intention to revisit. The influence of tourists' overall satisfaction with a destination on their behavioral... more
This study focuses on the link between tourists' satisfaction with the quality of airport services at a destination and their intention to revisit. The influence of tourists' overall satisfaction with a destination on their behavioral intentions has been well established both at theoretical and empirical levels; however, the particular role of satisfaction with airport services has been so far largely neglected. Researchers have recognized the vital importance of tourists' experience with airport services because of the fact that the airport is the first and last encounter that they experience when visiting a country. As such, the focus of the present study pertains to evaluating the satisfaction level of tourists visiting Mauritius and examining its resulting effect on their behavioral intentions. The study uses the survey methodology for data collection and involved the distribution of self-administered questionnaires to a sample of 1,721 tourists at the SSR airport in Mauritius. Exploratory factor analysis is used to extract meaningful dimensions of airport services and a multinomial probit analysis is conducted to test for the impact of satisfaction with airport services on revisit intention while taking into account other control variables. Interestingly, airport services are seen to significantly influence the probability of repeat tourism.
Research Interests:
This review paper has the aim of systematically analysing studies published in five hospitality journals over the period 2000 to 2016. The review was organized around four broad themes (conceptual developments, measurement of consumer... more
This review paper has the aim of systematically analysing studies published in five hospitality journals over the period 2000 to 2016. The review was organized around four broad themes (conceptual developments, measurement of consumer satisfaction, methods used to research consumer satisfaction, and antecedents and outcomes of consumer satisfaction). The findings show that more than half (110 studies) of studies published across all five journals do not provide a specific definition of consumer satisfaction. Research on this topic is biased toward quantitative methods at the expense of qualitative and mixed methods in all five journals. Researchers have investigated various determinants of customer satisfaction such as equity and fairness perceptions, emotions, corporate social responsibility, and employee satisfaction. The positive consequences of satisfaction on loyalty, behavioural intentions and switching costs are well established. However, several gaps in the current literature are evident and these are highlighted in this review.
Research Interests: Marketing, Tourism Studies, Tourism Marketing, Tourism Management, Hospitality Management, and 12 moreConsumer Behavior, Customer Satisfaction, Customer Loyalty, Marketing Research, Customer Relationship Management, Hospitality, Consumer Research, Marketing Management, Tourism and Hotel Management, Customer Service, Customer experience, and Hospitality and Tourism Management
The purpose of this study is to validate an integrated model of e-filing continuance usage. The model has its theoretical basis in the expectancy confirmation theory and the DeLone and McLean’s IS Success model. The model is extended to... more
The purpose of this study is to validate an integrated model of e-filing continuance usage. The model has its theoretical basis in the expectancy confirmation theory and the DeLone and McLean’s IS Success model. The model is extended to include two additional constructs relevant to e-filing continuance usage: perceived risks and habit. The model is tested using data collected from a sample of 645 e-filing users in Mauritius. Structural equation modelling was used to test the hypotheses. Findings suggest that citizens’ continuance usage intention of e-filing is influenced by system quality, user satisfaction and habit. User satisfaction had the strongest impact on e-filing continuance usage intention. This study makes a valuable contribution to knowledge through the extension and validation of the ECT and IS Success model to explore salient factors affecting e-filing continuance usage intention. The practical implications of the findings for tax collection agencies are discussed.
Research Interests:
Purpose – The study conceptualizes service quality as a second-order factor and analyzes its influence on customer satisfaction, perceived value, image, consumption emotions and customer loyalty by testing a structural equation model.... more
Purpose – The study conceptualizes service quality as a second-order factor and analyzes its influence on customer satisfaction, perceived value, image, consumption emotions and customer loyalty by testing a structural equation model.
Design/methodology/approach – The model is tested using data collected from 672 guests staying in accommodation establishments located in South Africa. The study follows a hierarchical approach using confirmatory factor analysis to test the second-order factor model and structural equation modeling to test the overall model.
Findings – The results indicate that the second-order factor model is acceptable both empirically as well as conceptually and performs better than other competing models of service quality. The findings provide support for all hypotheses and evidence of a structural model with a high explanatory power.
Research limitations/implications – The second-order factor model is less useful when fine-grained analyses are needed, such as when a detailed assessment of the level of quality of service offered by a hospitality organization is required.
Practical implications – The second-order factor model allows for an analysis of service quality at different levels of abstraction. Accommodation managers interested in customers’ evaluation of service on a cumulative basis can make use of the global measure to determine service quality evaluations. Practitioners can also use the findings to manage the different dimensions of service quality.
Originality/value – The study demonstrates that service quality is best represented as a second-order factor, and in doing so, it provides an improved measurement of the construct. More so, by integrating the variable in a nomological network, the research develops a more parsimonious model than the existing ones.
Design/methodology/approach – The model is tested using data collected from 672 guests staying in accommodation establishments located in South Africa. The study follows a hierarchical approach using confirmatory factor analysis to test the second-order factor model and structural equation modeling to test the overall model.
Findings – The results indicate that the second-order factor model is acceptable both empirically as well as conceptually and performs better than other competing models of service quality. The findings provide support for all hypotheses and evidence of a structural model with a high explanatory power.
Research limitations/implications – The second-order factor model is less useful when fine-grained analyses are needed, such as when a detailed assessment of the level of quality of service offered by a hospitality organization is required.
Practical implications – The second-order factor model allows for an analysis of service quality at different levels of abstraction. Accommodation managers interested in customers’ evaluation of service on a cumulative basis can make use of the global measure to determine service quality evaluations. Practitioners can also use the findings to manage the different dimensions of service quality.
Originality/value – The study demonstrates that service quality is best represented as a second-order factor, and in doing so, it provides an improved measurement of the construct. More so, by integrating the variable in a nomological network, the research develops a more parsimonious model than the existing ones.
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The potential of tourism e-commerce can be fully exploited if the online purchase behavior of travelers is well understood. This study tests a model predicting travelers’ intent to purchase tourism products and services online using data... more
The potential of tourism e-commerce can be fully exploited if the online purchase behavior of travelers is well understood. This study tests a model predicting travelers’ intent to purchase tourism products and services online using data collected from travelers to Mauritius. Results from the structural equation modeling analysis support seven of the eight proposed hypotheses. Findings suggest that travelers’ perceived usefulness, trust, and perceived risks are determinants of attitude to e-purchasing which in turn significantly influences e-purchase intent. Results also suggest that perceived ease of use exerts a significant influence on perceived usefulness and trust while the latter negatively influences perceived risks. The managerial implications of the findings for online tourism and hospitality vendors are and the study’s limitations are discussed. Some directions for future research are also presented.
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Understanding the information search behavior of travelers is important for providing effective marketing strategies and appropriate communication campaigns. Indeed, investigating and understanding such behaviors of tourists have a long... more
Understanding the information search behavior of travelers is important for providing effective marketing strategies and appropriate communication campaigns. Indeed, investigating and understanding such behaviors of tourists have a long tradition in tourism research. Using data collected from 877 respondents, this study analyzes the information search behavior of European tourists visiting Mauritius. The impact of nationality and prior product knowledge on the external information search behavior of travelers has been investigated. Data was collected between September 2006 and January 2007 using structured questionnaires. The analysis was conducted using the Kruskal-Wallis test to analyze the influence of nationality on the use of external sources of information.
A series of one-way ANOVA and t-test were also conducted to investigate the relationship between prior product knowledge and use of external sources of information. Results indicate that nationality and prior product knowledge influence travelers' information search behavior. Findings also indicate that for both first-time and repeat visitors, the Internet was an important source of information. However, travel agencies, friends and relatives, information leaflets and National Tourism Offices were found to be more important sources of information for first-time travelers than repeat visitors. The results also suggest that different marketing and communication strategies are necessary to effectively target consumers from the diverse European countries. In conclusion, recommendations for destination marketers in Mauritius are discussed. These include developing close contacts and good relationships with travel agencies, increasing online marketing techniques, encouraging positive word-of-mouth and increasing attention to tourists' satisfaction amongst others. Some limitations of the research are also discussed.
A series of one-way ANOVA and t-test were also conducted to investigate the relationship between prior product knowledge and use of external sources of information. Results indicate that nationality and prior product knowledge influence travelers' information search behavior. Findings also indicate that for both first-time and repeat visitors, the Internet was an important source of information. However, travel agencies, friends and relatives, information leaflets and National Tourism Offices were found to be more important sources of information for first-time travelers than repeat visitors. The results also suggest that different marketing and communication strategies are necessary to effectively target consumers from the diverse European countries. In conclusion, recommendations for destination marketers in Mauritius are discussed. These include developing close contacts and good relationships with travel agencies, increasing online marketing techniques, encouraging positive word-of-mouth and increasing attention to tourists' satisfaction amongst others. Some limitations of the research are also discussed.
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The influence of gender on travelers’ information search behavior continues to attract the attention of researchers. However, most scholars have studied gender differences from a biological perspective, treating gender as a unitary... more
The influence of gender on travelers’ information search behavior continues to attract the attention of researchers. However, most scholars have studied gender differences from a biological perspective, treating gender as a unitary theoretical concept. This article challenges such an approach and argues for a more differentiated perspective to the study of gender differences in information search behavior. It approaches gender differences from a psychological perspective and proposes that the travelers’ gender identity (masculinity and femininity) is a determinant of their search behavior. The gender schema theory and the selectivity theory inform the model of the study. Five hypotheses are developed and are tested using responses collected from 568 tourists. Results from the structural equation modeling analysis indicate support for all hypotheses, confirming that gender identity is a good determinant of travelers’ search behavior. Travelers displaying high femininity traits were found to engage in more internal as well as external information search. Respondents with high masculinity traits relied less on both internal and external search for information. The theoretical and managerial implications, as well as the limitations of the study are discussed. The study also provides some directions for future research.
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The role which food plays in the tourism industry cannot be ignored. However, the literature has also led to believe that food risks are perceived to be higher abroad than at home and this could act as an impediment for the tourism... more
The role which food plays in the tourism industry cannot be ignored. However, the literature has also led to believe that food risks are perceived to be higher abroad than at home and this could act as an impediment for the tourism industry. Though research on food as a tourism product has been growing in the literature, little has been said about genetically modified (GM) food intake by tourists. This study develops a model to predict tourists' intention to consume GM food based on the postulates of the theory of planned behavior. Attitude to GM food, perceived behavioral control, and subjective norms are proposed as the determinants of behavioral intention to consume such foods. The model also considers perceived risks with GM foods to be an important determinant of attitude. Furthermore, factors likely to be antecedents of the travelers' perceived risks with GM foods are discussed and incorporated in the proposed model. Some propositions on which future research could be based on are also made. The study concludes that the model is particularly useful for those destinations introducing GM foods in their markets and where the tourism industry plays an important role.
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Media coverage and related viewership can be critical to the financial success of many sport and tourism events. It is not surprising, then, that many event organizers seek to improve the appeal and television viewership ratings... more
Media coverage and related viewership can be critical to the financial success of many sport and tourism events. It is not surprising, then, that many event organizers seek to improve the appeal and television viewership ratings associated with their respective properties. Moreover, insights into the nature of people’s decisions to watch the Olympics on television might be relevant to marketers hoping to simulate post-event tourism. This study focuses on understanding viewership decisions surrounding the Olympic Games using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) as a conceptual framework. Consistent with the theory, it was hypothesized that attitude toward the behavior, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control would explain respondents’ intention to watch the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games on television. Results suggest that watching the Games on television was associated with: (a) a belief that important others would perform the behavior (i.e., descriptive norms); (b) previous viewing of the Games’ televised coverage (i.e., past behavior); (c) a favorable evaluation of performing the behavior (i.e., attitude toward the behavior); and (d) a perceived ease of performing the behavior (i.e., perceived behavioral control). Respondents did not appear to perceive their viewership in ways that might be desirable to hospitality or tourism organizations. Implications for event stakeholders and hospitality/destination marketers are discussed.
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The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of paid accommodation by international visitors who also stay with a friend or relative in another destination, and to consider the significance of residents in regional tourism activity.... more
The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of paid accommodation by international visitors who also stay with a friend or relative in another destination, and to consider the significance of residents in regional tourism activity. The study draws from literature on visiting friends and relatives (VFR) travel and multi-destination trips, and uses secondary data on international visitors to Canada to explore these themes. Results show that 14.5% of all person-nights spent by international visitors to Canada in paid accommodations were attributable to people who also stayed with a friend or relative in another destination. This proportion is higher for destinations outside of Canada’s six largest cities, and varies by key visitor markets. This paper has implications for destination marketers and tourism businesses as a source for reflection on drivers of their local and international business. This paper offers an original position by combining concepts from VFR travel and multi-destination trips that provides a foundation for further research in this area.
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The purpose of this research is to explore extraordinary experiences of food tourists and to develop a theory of surprise in relation to a typology of food cultural capital. We draw on phenomenological interviews with sixteen food... more
The purpose of this research is to explore extraordinary experiences of food tourists and to develop a theory of surprise in relation to a typology of food cultural capital. We draw on phenomenological interviews with sixteen food tourists. We found that food tourists experienced surprise in different ways, depending on their food cultural capital. Food tourists who possessed a high level of cultural capital were surprised by the simplicity or complexity of the experience while those possessing a low level of cultural capital were surprised by the genuinity of the experience. Thus, we make an important theoretical contribution here as we learn that the resources food tourists possessed in the form of cultural capital conditioned the ways in which they conceived an extraordinary experience. More so, using the cultural capital perspective, we have also demonstrated the role of social context in contributing to creating an extraordinary experience.
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The pervasive influence of social media on our lives provides new opportunities to study residents' attitudes to tourism. Even though it is now common for residents to express their opinions and read about tourism development on social... more
The pervasive influence of social media on our lives provides new opportunities to study residents' attitudes to tourism. Even though it is now common for residents to express their opinions and read about tourism development on social media, the consequences of this for their attitudes remain to be understood. This article uses the analytical perspectives of the information society and draws from the elaboration likelihood model, the influence of presumed influence model, and the social exchange theory to develop a causal-chain framework that considers the influence of social media on residents' attitudes to tourism. Twenty-five research propositions emanate from the conceptual framework. The framework examines the direct as well as indirect influence of social media tourism messages on residents' attitudes. It also recognizes users as the receivers and expressers of pro-as well as anti-tourism messages on social media. Our framework is theoretically inclusive, providing a reference to scholars and stimulating new ideas for future research on social media and residents' attitudes. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that provides the necessary theoretical foundations and a conceptual framework to study residents' attitudes to tourism in an information era intensified by the growth of social media.
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This research establishes the theoretical link between the development of tourism and citizens’ trust. The research is grounded in political economy of state intervention in tourism and draws from social exchange theory to build the... more
This research establishes the theoretical link between the development of tourism and citizens’ trust. The research is grounded in political economy of state intervention in tourism and draws from social exchange theory to build the theoretical model. The latter incorporates variables such as trust, power, knowledge, and benefits and costs of tourism, which are central to any exchange process between social actors. The model distinguishes and proposes a theoretical relationship between domain specific political trust and generic political trust. The former refers to citizens' trust in local government in the specific context of tourism development while the latter refers to citizens' general level of trust in local government. The model is tested using data collected from residents of the metropolitan area of Naples, Italy. Results suggest that residents’ trust in local government in the specific context of tourism strongly influences their general level of trust, suggesting a spill-over effect of political trust. We demonstrated empirically that political trust in the context of tourism and the general trust in an institution are theoretically distinct concepts. The constructs we used to conceptualize tourism development has distinct influence on the two dimensions of political trust.
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Favorable resident perceptions of the development of social capital resulting from hosting community-based tourism is now an important issue for the Chinese authorities in relation to sustainable society and culture. This study aimed to... more
Favorable resident perceptions of the development of social capital resulting from hosting community-based tourism is now an important issue for the Chinese authorities in relation to sustainable society and culture. This study aimed to develop and test a multidimensional scale to evaluate the perceived social impacts from tourism on social capital from sustainable community-based tourism in China. A questionnaire was developed and tested among host community residents (430) in Fanhe village, Guangdong Province. Analysis of the data from this survey resulted in the development of a six-factor model incorporating 20 items in the six groups. This allowed the researchers to assess perceived social impacts on social capital: covering collective efficacy, community belonging, traditional social regulations, community cohesion, social networking, and community competence. The study reveals the multi-dimensional nature of perceived tourism social impacts on social capital in the Chinese tourism community and contributes to a better understanding of how residents view the social capital associated with community-based tourism as part of sustainable development.
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The political ramifications of hosting mega-events are huge. In this article, we investigate the relationships among corruption, transparency, knowledge, and public trust using data collected from 3786 Brazilians in the context of the... more
The political ramifications of hosting mega-events are huge. In this article, we investigate the relationships among corruption, transparency, knowledge, and public trust using data collected from 3786 Brazilians in the context of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Games. Findings from the structural equation modeling indicate that public trust in government is determined by the respondents' perceptions of corruption and transparency and their level of knowledge about the roles of government and the local organizing committee in the mega-event. The respondents' level of trust in the local organizing committee also exerts an influence on their trust in the government. The implications of the findings for governments planning to host mega-events in the future are discussed. This research makes an important contribution to the literature, being the first study to test a theoretical model that analyses the relationships between corruption, transparency, knowledge, and public trust in the context of a mega-sport event.
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This study explored the efficacy of an extant resident support model developed by Gursoy and Kendall (2006) in a hypothetical Olympic Single Host-City and Multiple Host-City bid arrangement. Participants were undergraduate students... more
This study explored the efficacy of an extant resident support model developed by Gursoy and Kendall (2006) in a hypothetical Olympic Single Host-City and Multiple Host-City bid arrangement. Participants were undergraduate students enrolled in two Ontario universities and randomly assigned into one of two hypothetical 2028 Summer Olympic Games bid arrangements: (1) SHC – Toronto, and (2) MHC – Toronto and Montreal. Results revealed the extant model did not perform well in the MHC bid arrangement. Findings suggest the relative importance of perceived benefits and costs in garnering support from residents may differ between SHC and MHC bid arrangements. Implications for the design and exploration of MHC resident support models for the Olympic Games are discussed. This is the first study to explore resident support in a MHC bid context. The study sets the scene for research following this new IOC development and informs future studies on this important topic.
Research Interests: Tourism Studies, Tourism Marketing, Tourism Management, Community Engagement & Participation, Community Development, and 9 moreEvent Management, Sustainable Development, Olympics and Olympism, Sustainable Tourism, Mega Events, Tourism Impacts, Olympic Games, Sport and Event Tourism, and Competitive Bidding
The article posits that governance and sustainable tourism research will benefit from a joint treatise of trust and other key governance concepts such as power and social capital. The article introduces the concept of governance in the... more
The article posits that governance and sustainable tourism research will benefit from a joint treatise of trust and other key governance concepts such as power and social capital. The article introduces the concept of governance in the context of sustainable tourism development. The discussion then delves into the theoretical perspectives on trust, power, and social capital and exemplifies their contributions to tourism governance and sustainable tourism. A typology of social capital potentially useful in sustainable tourism research is developed. The typology emphasizes on the positive aspects of social capital and the challenges the concept present for governance and sustainability. The article argues that good governance and sustainable tourism research has privileged the concept of power at the detriment of trust in social relationships. Within these debates, the collection of papers comprising the special issue is situated. The article concludes with an agenda for further research in this area.
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This study examines the impacts of residents' trust along with other factors such as community concerns, eco-centric values, and community attachment on local residents' perceived impacts of and their support for the 2014 FIFA World Cup,... more
This study examines the impacts of residents' trust along with other factors such as community concerns, eco-centric values, and community attachment on local residents' perceived impacts of and their support for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Brazil. A theoretical model developed on the premise of social exchange theory is tested utilizing data collected from the residents of Natal, Brazil, that hosted three games of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Findings indicate that expected benefits is the most critical determinant of locals' support/opposition for hosting a mega event in their community. Trust is found to have the strongest influence on locals' perceptions of the positive and negative impacts of the game. While the community attachment is found to have significant impact on costs perceptions, community concern significantly influences locals' benefit perceptions. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
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Research Interests: Tourism Studies, Tourism Impacts, Destination Marketing, Tourism Development Impacts Towards Local Community, Risk and crisis management, and 5 moreTourism Planning & Development, Environmental Preservation through Tourism, Alterations in Urban Island Tourism Destinations, Tourism Flows, and Tourism Sustainability
Personally held values play a fundamental role in explaining human actions. Research in both psychology and sociology suggest that such values underlie human behavior and actions. This article highlights the usefulness of personal values... more
Personally held values play a fundamental role in explaining human actions. Research in both psychology and sociology suggest that such values underlie human behavior and actions. This article highlights the usefulness of personal values in explaining residents' attitudes toward tourism. It is argued that values are major determinants of attitudes and consequent support for the industry. The means-end-chain (MEC) is proposed as the theoretical base of the study. The laddering technique, which is often used to operationalize MEC, is also discussed. Through the laddering interviews, a "mental map" linking the attributes of tourism to the benefits or consequences of experiencing tourism and the personal values it satisfies can be developed. This process results in a better understanding of community attitude toward the industry. This study provides a theoretical (MEC) as well as a methodological (laddering) contribution to the literature on residents' attitude toward tourism. It also contributes to the limited number of studies discussing the influence of values on host behavior toward the tourism industry. Though value research together with laddering and MEC are not new to tourism, they can be considered new contributions to host attitudinal research.
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Scholars investigating local residents' attitudes toward tourism have often used different types of measurement procedures based on positivistic paradigms, while very few researchers have based their studies on purely qualitative... more
Scholars investigating local residents' attitudes toward tourism have often used different types of measurement procedures based on positivistic paradigms, while very few researchers have based their studies on purely qualitative approaches. This paper introduces and discusses a qualitative method known as the means-end theory and its associated laddering technique, which can be used to investigate host attitudes to tourism. The laddering technique, based on the means-end approach is recommended to understand values, which influence attitudes, since from a social psychology discourse, values are considered as antecedents of attitudes and opinions. It is argued that through an understanding of the personal values of the respondents, it is possible to have a different perspective on their attitudes and opinions toward tourism. The authors are not claiming that such an approach is superior to other measurement procedures and research paradigms, but argue that the means-end theory and the laddering technique have considerable potential to shed light on issues surrounding this research area. Despite the limitations associated with such methods, it is argued that laddering based on means-end theory deserves further investigation and empirical testing by scholars investigating local residents' attitudes to development.
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The impacts of tourism have been given much consideration by scholars attempting to investigate the attitudes of the host population toward tourism. Such studies have been carried out in rural, coastal as well as in urban areas. However,... more
The impacts of tourism have been given much consideration by scholars attempting to investigate the attitudes of the host population toward tourism. Such studies have been carried out in rural, coastal as well as in urban areas. However, most studies on urban tourism impacts have been conducted in the context of the developed world, whereas very little research has been carried out in the urban environment of Small Island Developing States. Using a sample size of 230 residents, this study contributes to the limited literature on urban tourism in islands by examining the residents' attitudes toward tourism in Port Louis, the capital city of the island of Mauritius. Findings suggest that while the positive impacts of tourism are well recognized by the residents, the latter are also concerned with some negative influence of tourism in Port Louis. Residents were found not to be homogeneous in their perceptions toward tourism. Employment in tourism was found to be an antecedent of attitudes. Gender and age were also found to be discriminators toward some tourism impact. Findings also revealed that residents were supportive of cultural tourism development. Implications for the management of the small island urban tourism are also discussed.
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ustainable tourism development is a major challenge for small island economies. Yet, little research has been conducted on the social implications of tourism development and their role in the sustainable development of such economies.... more
ustainable tourism development is a major challenge for small island economies. Yet, little research has been conducted on the social implications of tourism development and their role in the sustainable development of such economies. This research discusses the importance of understanding community perceptions of tourism development in small island states by proposing a theoretical framework based on social exchange theory. The framework defines attitudes to tourism as the residents' perceptions toward the positive and negative impacts of tourism, which in turn influence support for the industry. The model also proposes that the independent variables influencing attitudes to tourism are economic dependence on the industry, occupational identity, community attachment, and level of power. The state of the local economy is given as a moderating variable between dependence on the industry and the perceived positive and negative impacts. The relationship between level of power and perceived positive and negative impacts is considered to be moderated by the gender of the residents. The policy implications of adopting such a model are discussed.
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Most studies that examine tourism impacts and community attitudes have been carried out from the perspective of industrialized economies, making the findings less valid for small islands. This paper discusses some pertinent issues in... more
Most studies that examine tourism impacts and community attitudes have been carried out from the perspective of industrialized economies, making the findings less valid for small islands. This paper discusses some pertinent issues in relation to tourism development and community attitudes in small islands, and it develops and presents a conceptual framework based on social exchange theory and identity theory. The different facets of identity relevant to small-island communities that are likely to influence attitudes and support for tourism are incorporated in the framework and discussed. These include occupational identity, environmental identity and gender identity. Based on these, five propositions are developed. The study concludes that inclusion of identity variables in behavioral models could increase their predictive power in explaining attitudes to tourism and consequent support for the industry.
Research Interests: Tourism Studies, Self and Identity, Social Identity, Sustainable Development, Sustainable Tourism, and 11 moreEnvironmental Sustainability, Identity theory, Tourism Impacts, Small Island Developing States, Destination Marketing, Risk and crisis management, Tourism Planning & Development, Environmental Preservation through Tourism, Alterations in Urban Island Tourism Destinations, Tourism Flows, and Tourism Sustainability
In recent years Mauritius has experienced a rapid increase in integrated resort developments, which have been intended to secure income from new tourism segments and to boost the local economy. Using data on the responses of residents of... more
In recent years Mauritius has experienced a rapid increase in integrated resort developments, which have been intended to secure income from new tourism segments and to boost the local economy. Using data on the responses of residents of Le Morne, Mauritius, to a proposal to construct an integrated resort, this study develops and tests a model of community support for the proposed development. The structural model indicates that residents' satisfaction with their own community, their utilization of the resource base, their perceptions of the state of the local economy and their environmental attitudes are antecedents of their views about the costs and benefits of the project. Opinions about the benefits and costs of the project were also found to determine the level of community support. All factors in the model were found to be determinants of the perceived costs and benefits of the project, except for residents' perceptions of the impact of the development on their utilization of the resource base. The theoretical and managerial implications of the study are discussed. The most notable contribution of the study is its findings on the influence of residents' satisfaction with community services on their attitudes and support for tourism development.
Research Interests: Tourism Studies, Community Development, Sustainable Development, Tourism Community Development, Sustainable Tourism, and 10 moreSustainability in Hotels & Resorts, Environmental Sustainability, Tourism Impacts, Destination Marketing, Risk and crisis management, Tourism Planning & Development, Environmental Preservation through Tourism, Alterations in Urban Island Tourism Destinations, Tourism Flows, and Tourism Sustainability
This study develops and tests a structural model of residents’ support tourism development, with the social exchange theory as its theoretical base. The model incorporates three exogenous latent variables, namely, community satisfaction... more
This study develops and tests a structural model of residents’ support tourism development, with the social exchange theory as its theoretical base. The model incorporates three exogenous latent variables, namely, community satisfaction with neighborhood conditions, community commitment, and satisfaction with community services. Perceived positive and negative impacts of tourism are proposed as the mediating variables between the exogenous latent variables and the ultimate dependent variable, given as support for tourism. Eight path hypotheses are proposed and tested using a sample of 363 residents. Perceptions of tourism impacts were found to influence support for tourism development. Findings also suggest that residents’ satisfaction with neighborhood conditions and community services are important determinants of perceived positive and negative impacts of tourism. Community commitment was found not to be an antecedent of attitudes to tourism. The practical implications of the study are discussed, together with its limitations and scope for future research.
Research Interests: Tourism Studies, Tourism Planning and Policy, Community Development, Tourism Community Development, Sustainable Tourism, and 10 moreCommunity Based Tourism, Tourism Impacts, Destination Marketing, Tourism Development Impacts Towards Local Community, Risk and crisis management, Tourism Planning & Development, Environmental Preservation through Tourism, Alterations in Urban Island Tourism Destinations, Tourism Flows, and Tourism Sustainability
Research suggests that the images residents hold about their community influence the political support for tourism. Yet, few researchers have investigated the image that local residents have of their own area. Borrowing from the existing... more
Research suggests that the images residents hold about their community influence the political support for tourism. Yet, few researchers have investigated the image that local residents have of their own area. Borrowing from the existing literature on place image and residents' perceptions of tourism impacts, a theoretical model incorporating these two lines of research is developed and tested using data collected from residents of the city of Port Louis, Mauritius. It proposes four city image attributes as the independent constructs influencing residents' perceptions toward the overall impact of tourism development. These include social attributes, transport attributes, government services attributes, and shopping attributes. Overall impact of tourism development is considered to be a determinant of the level of support for the industry. Results of the structural equation modeling analysis indicate that residents' perceived levels of shopping attributes, transport attributes, and social attributes of the city influence their level of support for the tourism industry. The hypothesis relating transport attributes to overall impacts of tourism was not supported. The study provides some important considerations for local planners attempting to make tourism more supportive in the city.
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This study developed a model of community support based on the social exchange theory. The model contained fourteen hypothesized relationships and was tested using the LISREL package from responses collected from residents of Grand-Baie,... more
This study developed a model of community support based on the social exchange theory. The model contained fourteen hypothesized relationships and was tested using the LISREL package from responses collected from residents of Grand-Baie, Mauritius. Results indicated that support was influenced by perceived benefits, perceived costs, and community satisfaction. Perceived benefits were affected by community satisfaction, institutional trust, power to influence tourism, and neighborhood conditions. Community satisfaction and neighborhood conditions did not exert a significant influence on perceived costs. Power to influence tourism was also not found to affect community satisfaction. Policy implications and limitations of the study are discussed.
Research Interests: Tourism Studies, Tourism Planning and Policy, Community Development, Tourism Community Development, Community Based Tourism, and 2 moreTourism Development Impacts Towards Local Community and Tourism Planning & Development, Tourism Impacts, Environmental Preservation through Tourism, Alterations in Urban Island Tourism Destinations, Crisis Management, Hellenic and International Tourism Flows, Destination Marketing, and Tourism Sustainability
Studies on residents’ support have primarily been conducted in the developed world. This study analyzes community support in the island economy of Mauritius by testing a model based on the social exchange theory and the identity theory.... more
Studies on residents’ support have primarily been conducted in the developed world. This study analyzes community support in the island economy of Mauritius by testing a model based on the social exchange theory and the identity theory. The model proposes that the resource-based occupational identity, environmental identity, and gender identity of the residents influence attitudes to tourism impacts and support (behavior). Results indicate that one’s identity has a direct bearing on support, but may not always influence attitudes. Findings confirm the relevance of the social exchange theory and the identity theory in explaining community support in island economies. The study’s practical implications and limitations are discussed.
Research Interests: Tourism Studies, Self and Identity, Social Identity, Community Development, Tourism Community Development, and 3 moreCommunity Based Tourism, Identity theory, and Tourism Planning & Development, Tourism Impacts, Environmental Preservation through Tourism, Alterations in Urban Island Tourism Destinations, Crisis Management, Hellenic and International Tourism Flows, Destination Marketing, and Tourism Sustainability
Trust and power between actors are two central concepts in social exchanges. Yet, studies investigating residents’ support for tourism using the social exchange theory have failed to consider these constructs simultaneously. This study... more
Trust and power between actors are two central concepts in social exchanges. Yet, studies investigating residents’ support for tourism using the social exchange theory have failed to consider these constructs simultaneously. This study tests a model of community support with the social exchange theory as its theoretical basis. Results indicate that support is determined by residents’ trust in government actors and perceived benefits. Trust is in turn predicted by residents’ perceived benefits and costs and their level of power. The theoretical contributions of the study emanate from the inclusion of the trust and power variables in the model. The practical implications of the findings and the limitations of the study are discussed. Some suggestions for future research are also made.
Research Interests: Government, Tourism Community Development, Sustainable Tourism, Social Exchange Theory, Tourism Impacts, and 9 morePolitical trust, Destination Marketing, Government Behaviour in Tourism Development in Developing Countries, Risk and crisis management, Tourism Planning & Development, Environmental Preservation through Tourism, Alterations in Urban Island Tourism Destinations, Tourism Flows, and Tourism Sustainability
Political trust is important for good governance. However, there is a paucity of research on this topic in the tourism literature. This paper tests a model of public trust in tourism institutions developed on the premise of the... more
Political trust is important for good governance. However, there is a paucity of research on this topic in the tourism literature. This paper tests a model of public trust in tourism institutions developed on the premise of the institutional and cultural theories of political trust. Results from the structural equation modeling analysis suggest that perceived economic and political performance of institutions, residents’ power in tourism, and interpersonal trust are good determinants of political trust in tourism institutions. A significant relationship is also noted between public trust and political support for tourism. The theoretical and practical implications, of the findings, the study’s limitations, and some directions for future research are discussed.
Research Interests: Public Administration, Tourism Studies, Tourism Management, Government, Power (social), and 12 moreLeadership, Governance, Local Government, Gender, Sustainable Tourism, Environmental Sustainability, Institutions (Political Science), Development, Political trust, Good Governance, National government, and Party System
Using theory of reasoned action and social exchange theory, this study empirically tests a model of residents' support for the 2012 Olympic Games. The model proposes that overall attitude towards the Games mediates the relationship... more
Using theory of reasoned action and social exchange theory, this study empirically tests a model of residents' support for the 2012 Olympic Games. The model proposes that overall attitude towards the Games mediates the relationship between perceived socio-cultural, economic, and environmental impacts, and residents' support for the Games. Results indicate perceived economic and socio-cultural impacts (positive and negative) influence overall attitude, but contrary to our predictions, perceived environmental impacts (positive and negative) are not related to overall attitude. The model confirms that overall attitude plays a mediating role between perceived socio-cultural, economic, environmental impacts and support for the 2012 Games. Findings highlight the need for researchers to disaggregate the components of perceived impacts when modelling attitudes and support for mega events.
Research Interests: Tourism Studies, Community As Stakeholder Within Mega Event Planning, Mega Event Planning, Urban Planning, Olympics and Olympism, and 13 moreSustainable Tourism, Urban Tourism, Social Exchange Theory, Tourism Impacts, 2012 London Olympics, Mega Sport Events, Destination Marketing, Risk and crisis management, Tourism Planning & Development, Environmental Preservation through Tourism, Alterations in Urban Island Tourism Destinations, Tourism Flows, and Tourism Sustainability
This study developed a comprehensive model of residents’ trust in government actors and political support for tourism based on social exchange theory, institutional theory of political trust, and cultural theory of political trust. The... more
This study developed a comprehensive model of residents’ trust in government actors and political support for tourism based on social exchange theory, institutional theory of political trust, and cultural theory of political trust. The model was tested on a sample of 391 residents of Niagara Region, Ontario, Canada, using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling. Findings suggested that residents’ perceptions of the benefits and costs of tourism and their trust in government actors were significant determinants of political support. Their perceptions of the political and economic performance of government actors significantly predicted trust in government actors. Interpersonal trust, perceived costs of tourism, and perceived power in tourism decision-making were insignificant determinants of trust. The study found partial support for social exchange theory. Cultural theory of political trust was not found to be relevant, while strong support was found for institutional theory of political trust.
Research Interests: Political Economy, Tourism Studies, Tourism Management, Sustainable Development, Governance, and 13 moreLocal Government and Local Development, Tourism Community Development, Sustainable Tourism, Social Exchange Theory, Tourism Impacts, Political trust, Destination Marketing, Risk and crisis management, Tourism Planning & Development, Environmental Preservation through Tourism, Alterations in Urban Island Tourism Destinations, Tourism Flows, and Tourism Sustainability
Using a grounded theory approach, this study investigates stakeholders’ views of enclave tourism in the island of Mauritius. In-depth interviews with tourism stakeholders were conducted and data were analyzed using the principles of... more
Using a grounded theory approach, this study investigates stakeholders’ views of enclave tourism in the island of Mauritius. In-depth interviews with tourism stakeholders were conducted and data were analyzed using the principles of grounded theory. Seven subthemes emerged from the analysis and these were categorized into two main themes: enclave tourism as an agent of empowerment/improvement and enclave tourism as a force of sociocultural destruction/denial of freedom. The themes suggest that stakeholders’ views are nuanced and often contradictory. In line with the principles of grounded theory, a conceptual framework explaining stakeholders’ views of enclave tourism is developed. The findings are discussed with existing literature and similarities and contradictions are noted. Unlike what is usually claimed by researchers and scholars, enclave tourism development results in some environmental and socioeconomic benefits, particularly with respect to sustainable hotel operations, empowerment of local community and women, and entrepreneurial opportunities.
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Scholars have rarely considered the role social capital in shaping residents’ reactions to tourism development. A theoretical model integrating research on residents’ attitudes, community development, and social capital was developed and... more
Scholars have rarely considered the role social capital in shaping residents’ reactions to tourism development. A theoretical model integrating research on residents’ attitudes, community development, and social capital was developed and tested on a sample of 556 Korean rural residents using structural equation modeling. Multi-group analysis was used to test the moderating effects of social capital on each path relationships proposed in the model. Results indicated that perceived environmental impacts of tourism influenced community satisfaction, which in turn predicted support for tourism. Residents’ perceptions of the socioeconomic impacts of tourism influenced their support for rural tourism. Social capital shaped the ways in which residents responded to tourism development. Interestingly, our results suggest that a high level of social capital among community members is not always desirable as it does not foster pro-tourism attitudes. The lesson to be drawn is that only if the negative consequences of social capital are recognized and managed, it can build communities in ways that contribute to sustainable rural tourism development.
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The relationship between tourism development and citizens’ trust in government is an under-researched area. This study developed a model that established theoretical relationships between important variables of tourism development and... more
The relationship between tourism development and citizens’ trust in government is an under-researched area. This study developed a model that established theoretical relationships between important variables of tourism development and two types of political trust: political trust in the specific context of tourism and general level of political trust. Findings suggest a significant relationship between the two constructs. Results indicate that communities should feel empowered in tourism, should be knowledgeable of the sector, and should derive benefits from development for them to trust local government. The most important lesson of the study is that if the tourism sector is properly managed and developed, it can have beneficial political effects for governments such as increasing their legitimacy vis-à-vis citizens. The paper argues that like defense and social policies, tourism development have a determining impact on political trust and the industry therefore deserves more respect among political scientists.
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Power and trust are two fundamental components of sustainable and democratic tourism planning. Yet, research integrating the concepts of power and trust together has remained virtually silent in the tourism literature. This paper adopts... more
Power and trust are two fundamental components of sustainable and democratic tourism planning. Yet, research integrating the concepts of power and trust together has remained virtually silent in the tourism literature. This paper adopts Foucault’s theoretical perspectives on power to explain power relationships in tourism, particularly at the community level. The discussion suggests that Foucault’s conceptualizations of power, that is, ‘the omnipresence of power’ and ‘power in (tourism) networks’ are vital for an understanding of the politics of tourism. The paper further borrows from the political science literature and emphasizes on trust as another important ingredient of sustainable tourism development. More specifically, the arguments are based on the concept of political trust, conceptualized as citizens’ trust in tourism institutions. The paper adopts the institutional and cultural theories to establish the dimensions of political trust and argues that citizens’ trust in tourism institutions is vital for a democratic tourism planning process. The discussion further suggests that citizens’ power in tourism decision-making and their trust in tourism institutions are vital for gaining their political support for development.
Research Interests: Tourism Studies, Tourism Management, Sustainable Development, Sustainable Tourism, and Tourism Planning & Development, Tourism Impacts, Environmental Preservation through Tourism, Alterations in Urban Island Tourism Destinations, Crisis Management, Hellenic and International Tourism Flows, Destination Marketing, and Tourism Sustainability
Social exchange theory (SET) has made significant contributions to research on community support for tourism. Nevertheless, studies are based on an incomplete set of variables and are characterized by alternative, yet contradictory, yet... more
Social exchange theory (SET) has made significant contributions to research on community support for tourism. Nevertheless, studies are based on an incomplete set of variables and are characterized by alternative, yet contradictory, yet theoretically sound research propositions. Using key constructs of SET, this study develops a baseline model of residents’ support and compares it with four nested models. Each nested model contains the terms of the baseline model and additional relationships, reflecting alternative theoretical possibilities. The models were tested using data collected from residents of Niagara Region, Canada. Results indicated that in the best fitted model, residents’ support for tourism was influenced by their perceptions of positive impacts. Residents’ power and their trust significantly predicted their life satisfaction and their perceptions of positive impacts. Personal benefits from tourism significantly influenced perceptions of positive and negative impacts. The study provides valuable and clearer insights on relationships among SET variables.
Research Interests: Tourism Studies, Tourism Planning and Policy, Community Engagement & Participation, Community Development, Sustainable Development, and 6 moreStructural Equation Modeling, Tourism Strategy, Policy And Planning, Tourism Community Development, Sustainable Tourism, Sustainable Tourism Development, and Tourism Planning & Development, Tourism Impacts, Environmental Preservation through Tourism, Alterations in Urban Island Tourism Destinations, Crisis Management, Hellenic and International Tourism Flows, Destination Marketing, and Tourism Sustainability
Small island economies have traditionally been popular tourist destinations. Achieving sustainable tourism development is a major challenge facing such economies. Yet, little research focusing on understanding small islands'... more
Small island economies have traditionally been popular tourist destinations. Achieving sustainable tourism development is a major challenge facing such economies. Yet, little research focusing on understanding small islands' residents attitudes have been conducted in the literature. Faced with unique characteristics, they deserve special attention, raising concerns about whether existing models and findings can be applied to understand community responses to tourism in such economies. To lessen this gap, this study ...
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Political trust is a key requirement if tourism policies of the government are to flourish and sustain. The purpose of the research is to investigate the determinants of political trust and analyze whether the latter influences... more
Political trust is a key requirement if tourism policies of the government are to flourish and sustain. The purpose of the research is to investigate the determinants of political trust and analyze whether the latter influences residents’ support for mass and alternative tourism. To this end, we developed a structural model based on the social exchange theory, institutional theory of political trust, and cultural theory of political trust. The model proposes six determinants of political trust which in turn is proposed to influence residents’ support for mass and alternative tourism. Data were collected from residents’ of Mauritius selected using a stratified random sampling approach. We used a survey method based on a structured questionnaire. Using AMOS, the data were subjected to a confirmatory factor analysis to determine the fit of the measurement model. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized model. Results indicated that such variables as the political and economic performance of government in tourism, interpersonal trust, and tourism benefits significantly predicted political trust. In turn, the latter was found to influence residents’ support for mass tourism only, lending support to Hetherington sacrificed-based concept borrowed from political science. The theoretical contribution of the study relates to the inclusion of the political trust variable to analyze its relationship between residents’ support for two opposing types of tourism development in a single theoretical model. We found that such relationship is contextual, depending on the object of exchange, conceptualized in here as the types of tourism residents are asked to support. Political trust figures more prominently for mass tourism than for alternative tourism given the considerable amount of sacrifices residents have to make to accommodate mass development. Our findings suggest that it is important for government to foster political trust among local people for tourism development to sustain.
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In this article, we explore the evolution of Industrial Marketing Management in further detail by considering average number of citations per article, the distribution of citations and authors across subject areas, and country affiliation... more
In this article, we explore the evolution of Industrial Marketing
Management in further detail by considering average number of citations per article, the distribution of citations and authors across subject areas, and country affiliation of authors. We also investigate research team characteristics such as team size, and knowledge, geographic, and cultural diversity. We speculate that larger and more diverse teams may be required as a research discipline emerges, as authors take on more challenging research questions which will require a team possessing more varied expertise. We take a 16-year perspective, including all issues of Industrial Marketing Management from 1997 through 2012.
Management in further detail by considering average number of citations per article, the distribution of citations and authors across subject areas, and country affiliation of authors. We also investigate research team characteristics such as team size, and knowledge, geographic, and cultural diversity. We speculate that larger and more diverse teams may be required as a research discipline emerges, as authors take on more challenging research questions which will require a team possessing more varied expertise. We take a 16-year perspective, including all issues of Industrial Marketing Management from 1997 through 2012.
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In this article, published in Annals of Tourism Research, we analyze the intellectual structure and influence of tourism social science research, focusing exclusively on Annals of Tourism Research (Annals). The study provides answers to... more
In this article, published in Annals of Tourism Research, we analyze the intellectual structure and influence of tourism social science research, focusing exclusively on Annals of Tourism Research (Annals). The study provides answers to the following research questions: (1) how have other disciplines influenced the intellectual structure and inter-disciplinarity of knowledge in Annals? and (2) to what extent Annals has influenced knowledge in other disciplines? Intra-disciplinary citations dominate knowledge inflows. Our data set comprises of 3021 articles published in
the journal over 47 years, from 1973 (inception of the journal) to 2019. We adopt a modestly different approach compared to previous research. To determine the disciplinary influences on research published in Annals (knowledge inflows), we use the references the journal's articles have cited. To understand the influence of Annals (knowledge outflows), we analyze all works (within and outside tourism) in which Annal's articles appear as a reference. We find that intra-disciplinary citations dominate knowledge inflows; Knowledge inflows from marketing, general business and psychology has increased; Hegemonic knowledge structures dominate Annals' research; Annals' research can be described as evolutionary, intra-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary.
the journal over 47 years, from 1973 (inception of the journal) to 2019. We adopt a modestly different approach compared to previous research. To determine the disciplinary influences on research published in Annals (knowledge inflows), we use the references the journal's articles have cited. To understand the influence of Annals (knowledge outflows), we analyze all works (within and outside tourism) in which Annal's articles appear as a reference. We find that intra-disciplinary citations dominate knowledge inflows; Knowledge inflows from marketing, general business and psychology has increased; Hegemonic knowledge structures dominate Annals' research; Annals' research can be described as evolutionary, intra-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary.
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Information management is the management of organizational processes, technologies, and people which collectively create, acquire, integrate, organize, process, store, disseminate, access, and dispose of the information. Information... more
Information management is the management of organizational processes, technologies, and people which collectively create, acquire, integrate, organize, process, store, disseminate, access, and dispose of the information. Information management is a vast, multidisciplinary domain that syndicates various subdomains and perfectly intermingles with other domains. This study aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the information management domain from 1970 to 2019. Drawing upon the methodology from statistical text analysis research, this study summarizes the evolution of knowledge in this domain by examining the publication trends as per authors, institutions, countries, etc. Further, this study proposes a probabilistic generative model based on structural topic modeling to understand and extract the latent themes from the research articles related to information management. Furthermore, this study graphically visualizes the variations in the topic prevalences over the period of 1970 to 2019. The results highlight that the most common themes are data management, knowledge management, environmental management, project management, service management, and mobile and web management. The findings also identify themes such as knowledge management, environmental management, project management, and social communication as academic hotspots for future research.
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Despite ongoing problems with gender inequalities in tourism, little is known about gender differences in first and solo authorships, collaboration, and choice of research approaches. This study analyzes these academic practices using... more
Despite ongoing problems with gender inequalities in tourism, little is known about gender differences in first and solo authorships, collaboration, and choice of research approaches. This study analyzes these academic practices using 4973 articles (11,033 authors) in three major tourism journals from 1990 to 2017. The results show evidence of gender homophilic collaboration behaviors. Gender heterogeneous co-authorships are becoming pervasive and seem to be driven by female first authors. Solo female researchers strongly associate with qualitative research. While male-only teams have the lowest likelihood of using qualitative research, the situation is more complex for gender heterogeneous teams. Practical suggestions derived from the findings for the gender equality agenda in tourism are discussed to promote more gender-diverse collaborations and female-led research.
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This study explores gender gaps and differences in citation practices of scholars in the top-cited articles in tourism research. The results suggest that male researchers dominate the authorship of those articles and are more likely to... more
This study explores gender gaps and differences in citation practices of scholars in the top-cited articles in tourism research. The results suggest that male researchers dominate the authorship of those articles and are more likely to engage in self-citation than females. The study also finds a disparity in citation counts between male and female-authored articles. Controlling for other factors, author gender is an important determinant of citation counts. The study advocates for a more gender conscious citation practices and provides potential gender-based interventions to reduce citation gap. The research raises awareness about the dangers of the perfunctory use of citations and paves the way for further debates on the politics and embedded inequalities of citations in tourism research.
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Since the diffusion of the principles of sustainable development in tourism studies, the term has influenced the ways in which tourism research is carried out and how governments and other organizations plan for and manage tourism... more
Since the diffusion of the principles of sustainable development in tourism studies, the term has influenced the ways in which tourism research is carried out and how governments and other organizations plan for and manage tourism development. In this article, we argue that for sustainable tourism research to progress, constant innovation is vital. The issue comprises of 12 articles authored by scholars from diverse educational and research backgrounds and varied geographical locations, while ensuring an adequate representation of female authors. We position each article in the light of compelling theoretical and empirical arguments, enabling us to situate the special issue in light of the broader literature on sustainable tourism. The collection of articles reflects the diverse research topics, theoretical underpinnings, and methodologies used by various scholars world-wide to research sustainable tourism. The innovative aspects of each article are identified and discussed in light of existing literature. While the articles in this special issue are not enough to do justice to this topic, it is our hope that the volume has contributed to constructive discourses, debates, and critiques that will foster innovative research in sustainable tourism. We advocate that innovations in sustainable tourism research require (1) a broadening of the problem framing that involves a clear definition of the purpose and outcomes of the research activity and a clear understanding of the “object” of innovation; and (2) a broadening of the analytical framing to include the economic, social, cultural, political, and technological factors that shape innovation processes.
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Numerous studies have focused on delineating the relationship between tourism and economic growth. In this article, we present the results of a rigorous meta-regression analysis based on 545 estimates drawn from 113 studies that... more
Numerous studies have focused on delineating the relationship between tourism and economic growth. In this article, we present the results of a rigorous meta-regression analysis based on 545 estimates drawn from 113 studies that empirically tested the tourism-led growth hypothesis (TLGH). The results suggest the presence of publication bias in the literature on this topic, where the majority of studies report positive and statistically significant estimates. Findings provide support for the TLGH, but they also suggest that the estimates are sensitive to a number of factors that are related to country, data, specification, and estimation characteristics, and time span. Such sensitivities suggest that greater emphasis should be placed on reporting estimates of the relationship between tourism and economic growth across a variety of methodological characteristics and specification and estimation choices. The implications of the results for theory development are also discussed.
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Applying a meta-analysis approach, this study examines the applicability of SET on explaining residents’ impact perceptions of and attitudes toward tourism development. Findings confirm the applicability of SET in tourism impact studies... more
Applying a meta-analysis approach, this study examines the applicability of SET on explaining residents’ impact perceptions of and attitudes toward tourism development. Findings confirm the applicability of SET in tourism impact studies when assessing the impacts of perceived benefits (positive impacts) on support. Findings reveal that perceived benefits produce substantial effects on support while perceived costs (negative impacts) have trivial effects, which suggest that measures and indicators used to assess residents perceptions of perceived costs (negative impacts) may have validity problems. Moreover, a closer examination of the mean effects of five exogenous determinants of impact perceptions reveal that none of those variables have significant effects on the perceptions of negative impacts further suggesting possible problems with the operationalization of negative impact perceptions. Findings clearly suggest that a closer examination of the measurement items used to assess the negative impact perceptions of tourism impacts is needed.
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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore recent trends in the theories and methods applied to studies on residents’ attitudes. Design/methodology/approach – To achieve the objective of this research, this paper provides a review... more
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore recent trends in the theories and methods applied to studies on residents’ attitudes.
Design/methodology/approach – To achieve the objective of this research, this paper provides a review of 90 journal articles on residents’ attitudes towards tourism published between 2011 and 2017. The relevant articles were then analysed using content analysis.
Findings – Key findings revealed that although social exchange theory is still dominant in exploring residents’ attitudes towards tourism, new frameworks are beginning to emerge such as institutional theory and bottom-up spillover theory. Nonetheless, alternative theoretical perspective has only been applied once or twice and requires further engagement.Quantitative methods still dominate the field, with the geographic dispersal of studies spanning 33 countries.
Research limitations/implications – A potential limitation of this review is that articles published only in four leading tourism journals, namely, ATR, JTR, TM and JOST, were analysed.
Originality/value – This review contributes to the literature in tourism by assessing the shift in the application of theory and methodological approaches in residents’ attitudes studies from previous systematic reviews. This study adds to the body of knowledge by providing an overview of the existing status of research on residents’ attitudes towards tourism, providing direction for future scholarly inquiry. A further contribution of this review is an indication of not only the data collection methods but also data
analysis techniques which have not been done in previous review articles on residents’ attitudes towards tourism. As opposed to other systematic reviews, this paper assessed the geographical setting of studies on residents’ attitudes towards tourism.
Design/methodology/approach – To achieve the objective of this research, this paper provides a review of 90 journal articles on residents’ attitudes towards tourism published between 2011 and 2017. The relevant articles were then analysed using content analysis.
Findings – Key findings revealed that although social exchange theory is still dominant in exploring residents’ attitudes towards tourism, new frameworks are beginning to emerge such as institutional theory and bottom-up spillover theory. Nonetheless, alternative theoretical perspective has only been applied once or twice and requires further engagement.Quantitative methods still dominate the field, with the geographic dispersal of studies spanning 33 countries.
Research limitations/implications – A potential limitation of this review is that articles published only in four leading tourism journals, namely, ATR, JTR, TM and JOST, were analysed.
Originality/value – This review contributes to the literature in tourism by assessing the shift in the application of theory and methodological approaches in residents’ attitudes studies from previous systematic reviews. This study adds to the body of knowledge by providing an overview of the existing status of research on residents’ attitudes towards tourism, providing direction for future scholarly inquiry. A further contribution of this review is an indication of not only the data collection methods but also data
analysis techniques which have not been done in previous review articles on residents’ attitudes towards tourism. As opposed to other systematic reviews, this paper assessed the geographical setting of studies on residents’ attitudes towards tourism.
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This paper is a longitudinal study of 140 articles on residents’ attitudes to tourism published in Annals of Tourism Research, Tourism Management and Journal of Travel Research from 1984 to 2010. Content analysis was used to determine the... more
This paper is a longitudinal study of 140 articles on residents’ attitudes to tourism published in Annals of Tourism Research, Tourism Management and Journal of Travel Research from 1984 to 2010. Content analysis was used to determine the nature of the articles and the research approaches used. Although most articles were atheoretical, over the survey period an increasing proportion of studies made use of a variety of theories drawn from other disciplines to investigate the topic. The majority of studies were quantitative in nature, while a few studies used qualitative and mixed-methods approaches. Based on the results, some implications for research design and possibilities for future research are discussed. The paper concludes that studies on the topic have evolved from being low on methodological sophistication and theoretical awareness to being high on both aspects. Research on this topic has reached a stage of active scholarship in theory development followed by empirical testing. The study’s limitations are discussed, which readers should take into account when evaluating its findings.
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This is a pre-publication version of the article, accepted for publication in Annals of Tourism Research. Please cite as follows: Nunkoo R., Hall, C. M., and Ladsawut, J. Gender and Methodology in Tourism Social Science Research. Annals... more
This is a pre-publication version of the article, accepted for publication in Annals of Tourism Research. Please cite as follows:
Nunkoo R., Hall, C. M., and Ladsawut, J. Gender and Methodology in Tourism Social Science Research. Annals of Tourism Research, in press.
Nunkoo R., Hall, C. M., and Ladsawut, J. Gender and Methodology in Tourism Social Science Research. Annals of Tourism Research, in press.
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Research Interests: Tourism Studies, Tourism Management, Climate Change, Climate Change Adaptation, Climate change policy, and 10 moreClimatology, Sustainable Development, Tourism Geography, Sustainable Tourism, Environmental Sustainability, Skepticism, Tourism, Climate Change Politics, Climate Change Skepticism, and Climate change denial
Research Interests: Tourism Studies, Tourism Management, Climate Change, Tourism Planning and Policy, Climate Change Adaptation, and 12 moreClimate change policy, Climatology, Sustainable Development, Tourism Geography, Sustainable Tourism, Environmental Sustainability, Sustainable Tourism Development, Agnotology, Climate Change Politics, Climate Change Skepticism, Climate change denial, and Climate Politics
This paper explores the concept of structural equation modeling (SEM) and discusses the steps which researchers should follow when using this technique. This involves the development of a theoretical model, testing of a confirmatory... more
This paper explores the concept of structural equation modeling (SEM) and discusses the steps which researchers should follow when using this technique. This involves the development of a theoretical model, testing of a confirmatory measurement model, and evaluating the structural model with hypothesized path relations. For the benefit of readers, the discussion is supported by an illustration of a theoretical model predicting residents’ support for tourism, developed on the premise of the social exchange theory. The paper emphasizes that the proper application of SEM depends largely on theory, where every step in the analysis is based on theoretical reasoning. The advantages of SEM over regression analysis are discussed and these are grouped in four categories: (1) modeling of measurement errors and unexplained variances, (2) simultaneous testing of relationships, (3) ability to link micro and macro perspectives, and (4) best fitting model and theory development. The limitations of SEM over regression analysis are (1) difficulty in choosing and using SEM software packages (2) complexity and ambiguity, (3) limited use in exploratory research and (4) inability to model ‘truly’ categorical variables. The paper concludes that although SEM has considerable advantages over regression analysis, it does not replace it.
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Academic journals, with their rigorous peer-review process, play a central role in the scientification of knowledge. However, researchers and scholars often fail to appreciate and understand the black box of such agents of knowledge... more
Academic journals, with their rigorous peer-review process, play a central role in the scientification of knowledge. However, researchers and scholars often fail to appreciate and understand the black box of such agents of knowledge production. Using content analysis of articles published in the two most recent volumes of Journal of Hospitality Marketing and Management, this paper attempts to shed some lights on the nature of knowledge in hospitality studies. The results indicated that research is highly concentrated in the developed world, while the voices of developing nations are marginalized. This pattern provides some indication of underlying power dimensions in the production of hospitality and tourism knowledge. A social network analysis of contributors indicated that hospitality research is largely the product of collaborative efforts among members of the scientific community. Collaboration among researchers from the same country was the most common form of networking. In terms of research areas, the behaviors of travelers and consumers of hospitality and tourism services were well studied among scholars.
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This study reviewed use of covariance-based structural equation modeling (SEM) in 209 articles published in nine tourism journals between 2000 and 2011. Time series analysis suggested that the number of SEM publications is explained by... more
This study reviewed use of covariance-based structural equation modeling (SEM) in 209 articles published in nine tourism journals between 2000 and 2011. Time series analysis suggested that the number of SEM publications is explained by linear and quadratic time effects. Results indicated that although SEM practices have improved in some areas, tourism researchers do not always engage in the recommended best practices. Problematic areas were related to testing of alternative a priori models, reporting of multivariate normality, estimating effect size, and assessing reliability and validity. Some of the recommended fit indices were also under-utilized. The review also found few differences in SEM practices between top-tier journals and other publications in the tourism field. On the basis of these results, suggestions to improve use of SEM in tourism studies are discussed in the light of recent developments in this technique.
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The term “theory” is used with diverse meanings, resulting in miscommunication and misunderstanding. This article examines how “theory”, as a word, is used in three leading journals in each of hospitality, tourism, and leisure studies... more
The term “theory” is used with diverse meanings, resulting in miscommunication and misunderstanding. This article examines how “theory”, as a word, is used in three leading journals in each of hospitality, tourism, and leisure studies fields over a 20-year period. Utilizing an iterative and comparative hierarchical coding, seven different forms of theory and trends in their usage by scholars over the 20 years are identified. Among the notable trends are: 1) A marked increase in the appearance of “theory” (as a word) and its variants over the years; 2) the virtual disappearance of natural science-type theory in the three fields; and 3) a dramatic rise in the use of “theory” as an analogy rather than as a substantive term. Implications and limitations of the study are also discussed.
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The tourism and hospitality research landscape is constantly evolving and the field is growing in maturity. One of the distinguishing features that characterize this evolution is the proliferation of academic journals. The number of... more
The tourism and hospitality research landscape is constantly evolving and the field is growing in maturity. One of the distinguishing features that characterize this evolution is the proliferation of academic journals. The number of tourism and hospitality journals has increased from less than 10 before the 1980s to around 300 in 2017 (Shani & Uriely, 2017). Among the various knowledge dissemination channels that exist, academic journals play a leading position and serve several important functions. They play a central role in knowledge production and are considered key to knowledge advancement in any discipline (Xiao & Smith, 2007). Journals signify the existence of a scientific domain, niche discipline, or school of thought (Nie, Ma, & Nakamori, 2009). The various tourism and hospitality journals constitute the main reservoir of knowledge for researchers, students, and practitioners alike. Interestingly, these journals have been in their own right, the focus of investigations, described by Figueroa-Domecq, Pritchard, Segovia-Pérez, Morgan, and Villacé-Molinero (2015) as “the scholarship on the scholarship” of tourism and hospitality research (p. 88). Within these groups of studies, feature fervent debates on research methodologies and related aspects. For example, Xiao and Smith (2006a) noted a rise in the number of articles published in Annals of Tourism Research that has as main objective, the the dissemination of new concepts, models, and methods. Such an argument can also be extended to other journals in the field, where articles focusing on research methods are common.Informed by the above debates, this volume contains discussions on various quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods approaches, as well as other chapters on contemporary tourism and hospitality research that are common to both approaches. It raises wider methodological debates by drawing together the wealth of research methods experience gained by tourism and hospitality researchers in one volume. The handbook comprises of 43 chapters authored by 60 individuals from diverse educational and research backgrounds and geographical locations. The handbook also has an adequate representation of female authors in the field. It is my hope that such heterogeneity in the authors’ characteristics has led to a handbook that reflects adequately the diverse research methods and methodologies used by tourism and hospitality scholars world-wide and the debates that abound.
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The capital-intensive nature of tourism means that the industry relies heavily on the provision of transport infrastructure, hotels, airports and other amenities. Several countries, especially developing ones, have to rely on foreign... more
The capital-intensive nature of tourism means that the industry relies heavily on the provision of transport infrastructure, hotels, airports and other amenities. Several countries, especially developing ones, have to rely on foreign direct investment (FDI) for tourism development due to lack of capital and expertise. FDI therefore plays an important role in the tourism economy and is often considered as one of the most effective engines supporting the critical elements the industry requires. Despite the accepted role of FDI in boosting tourism development, studies investigating the causal relationships between FDI and tourism development are scare in the existing literature. This chapter reviews the theoretical underpinnings of the FDI-tourism nexus and the key empirical research on the topic. Overall, the review suggests that there is a positive relationship between FDI and tourism development and such a relationship is bi-directional. In terms of literature gaps, we note that more research on the FDI-tourism relationship in small islands and developing countries are needed given their unique economic, political, and environmental characteristics. Researchers should also be more opened to other methodological approaches to study the relationships between FDI and tourism development.
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How Consumption Values Influence Destination Image Formation. In: Arch G. Woodside, Carol M. Megehee, Alfred Ogle (Eds.) Advances in Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research: Perspectives on Cross-Cultural, Ethnographic, Brand Image, Storytelling, Unconscious Needs, and Hospitality Guest Research (pp. 143-168). Emerald.more
Small island economies have traditionally been popular tourist destinations. Achieving sustainable tourism development is a major challenge facing such economies. Yet, little research focusing on understanding small islands’ residents... more
Small island economies have traditionally been popular tourist destinations. Achieving sustainable tourism development is a major challenge facing such economies. Yet, little research focusing on understanding small islands’ residents attitudes have been conducted in the literature. Faced with unique characteristics, they deserve special attention, raising concerns about whether existing models and findings can be applied to understand community responses to tourism in such economies. To lessen this gap, this study develops a unique model for understanding small island community’s attitudes to tourism. Pertinent factors likely to influence support for tourism are incorporated in the model
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Research Interests: Business, Marketing, Sociology, Tourism Studies, Tourism Marketing, and 14 moreTourism Management, Community Engagement & Participation, Community Development, Event Management, Sustainable Development, Olympics and Olympism, Sustainable Tourism, Mega Events, Tourism Impacts, Tourism, Olympic Games, Sport and Event Tourism, Competitive Bidding, and Commercial Services
This article investigates the influence of travelers' satisfaction with a destination's tertiary support services on their loyalty behavior, conceptualized as revisit intention. The study is based on data collected from 1,721... more
This article investigates the influence of travelers' satisfaction with a destination's tertiary support services on their loyalty behavior, conceptualized as revisit intention. The study is based on data collected from 1,721 travelers to Mauritius. To have a better understanding of the influence of travelers' satisfaction with tertiary support services available at the destination on their loyalty behavior, we develop two Probit models. To control for other factors that may affect the decision of tourists to revisit Mauritius as a destination, other potential determinants of revisit intention were also included in the econometric models. Results suggest that travelers' satisfaction with tertiary support services has a significant influence on their loyalty. In particular, their satisfaction with security services and banking services are the strongest determinant of loyalty.
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Purpose Although it is a widely accepted fact that climate change can negatively impact on tourism demand and affect the economies at the socio-economic level, empirical studies on the climate change tourism development nexus has been... more
Purpose Although it is a widely accepted fact that climate change can negatively impact on tourism demand and affect the economies at the socio-economic level, empirical studies on the climate change tourism development nexus has been quite scant, especially for the case of island economies that are heavily dependent on tourism. This study aims to supplement the literature on climate change and tourism by empirically assessing the relationship between climate change and tourist arrivals for the case of 18 small island developing states over the period from 1989 to 2016. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses dynamic panel data techniques, namely, a panel vector autoregressive framework, which accounts for dynamic and endogeneity issues. Findings The results from the analysis confirm the existence of a significant relationship between climate change and tourism demand in both the long-run and short run. Further analysis shows a bi-directional causality between climatic change an...
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Research Interests: Marketing, Economics, Scepticism, Climate Change, Climate Change Adaptation, and 15 moreClimate change policy, Climatology, Sustainable Development, Environmental Sustainability, Skepticism, Natural Resource Economics, Agnotology, Climate Change Politics, Climate Change Skepticism, Greenhouse Gas, Climate change denial, Denial, Climate Politics, Elsevier, and Commercial Services
Research Interests: Marketing, Scepticism, Climate Change, Climate Change Adaptation, Climate change policy, and 15 moreClimatology, Political Science, Sustainable Development, Tourism Geography, Sustainable Tourism, Environmental Sustainability, Skepticism, Tourism, Climate Change Politics, Climate Change Skepticism, Misinformation, Climate change denial, Denial, Elsevier, and Commercial Services
Personally held values play a fundamental role in explaining human actions. Research in both psychology and sociology suggest that such values underlie human behavior and actions. This article highlights the usefulness of personal values... more
Personally held values play a fundamental role in explaining human actions. Research in both psychology and sociology suggest that such values underlie human behavior and actions. This article highlights the usefulness of personal values in explaining residents' attitudes toward tourism. It is argued that values are major determinants of attitudes and consequent support for the industry. The means-end-chain (MEC) is proposed as the theoretical base of the study. The laddering technique, which is often used to operationalize MEC, is also discussed. Through the laddering interviews, a "mental map" linking the attributes of tourism to the benefits or consequences of experiencing tourism and the personal values it satisfies can be developed. This process results in a better understanding of community attitude toward the industry. This study provides a theoretical (MEC) as well as a methodological (laddering) contribution to the literature on residents' attitude toward ...
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This study reviewed use of covariance-based structural equation modeling (SEM) in 209 articles published in nine tourism journals between 2000 and 2011. Time-series analysis suggested that the number of SEM publications is explained by... more
This study reviewed use of covariance-based structural equation modeling (SEM) in 209 articles published in nine tourism journals between 2000 and 2011. Time-series analysis suggested that the number of SEM publications is explained by linear and quadratic time effects. Results indicated that although SEM practices have improved in some areas, tourism researchers do not always engage in the recommended best practices. Problematic areas were related to testing of alternative a priori models, reporting of multivariate normality, estimating effect size, and assessing reliability and validity. Some of the recommended fit indices were also underutilized. The review also found few differences in SEM practices between top-tier journals and other publications in the tourism field. On the basis of these results, suggestions to improve use of SEM in tourism studies are discussed in the light of recent developments in this technique.
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Most studies that examine tourism impacts and community attitudes have been carried out from the perspective of industrialized economies, making the findings less valid for small islands. This paper discusses some pertinent issues in... more
Most studies that examine tourism impacts and community attitudes have been carried out from the perspective of industrialized economies, making the findings less valid for small islands. This paper discusses some pertinent issues in relation to tourism development and community attitudes in small islands, and it develops and presents a conceptual framework based on social exchange theory and identity theory. The different facets of identity relevant to small-island communities that are likely to influence attitudes and support for tourism ...
Research Interests: Sociology, Self and Identity, Public Opinion, Social Identity, Sustainable Development, and 15 moreSustainable Tourism, Environmental Sustainability, Identity theory, Gender Identity, Social Exchange Theory, Small Island Developing States, Destination Marketing, Attitudes, Conceptual Framework, Behavior Modeling, Small islands, Self Perception, Risk and crisis management, Environmental Preservation through Tourism, and Alterations in Urban Island Tourism Destinations
In recent years Mauritius has experienced a rapid increase in integrated resort devel-opments, which have been intended to secure income from new tourism segments and to boost the local economy. Using data on the responses of residents of... more
In recent years Mauritius has experienced a rapid increase in integrated resort devel-opments, which have been intended to secure income from new tourism segments and to boost the local economy. Using data on the responses of residents of Le Morne, Mauritius, to a ...
Research Interests: Business, Community Development, Sustainable Development, Tourism Community Development, Sustainable Tourism, and 15 moreEnvironmental Sustainability, Tourism Impacts, Tourism, Mauritius, Tourism Development, Destination Marketing, Risk and crisis management, Community Support, Environmental Preservation through Tourism, Alterations in Urban Island Tourism Destinations, Tourism Flows, Costs and Benefits, Structural model, Environmental Attitude, and Communication Service
Page 1. Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure & Events Vol. 2, No. 1, March 2010, 5165 ISSN 1940-7963 print/ISSN 1940-7971 online © 2010 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/19407960903542318... more
Page 1. Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure & Events Vol. 2, No. 1, March 2010, 5165 ISSN 1940-7963 print/ISSN 1940-7971 online © 2010 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/19407960903542318 http://www.informaworld.com ...
Research Interests: Sociology, Socioeconomics, Perception, Sustainable Development, Policy, and 15 moreGender, Sustainable Tourism, Sustainable Tourism Development, Social Exchange Theory, Small Island Developing States, Models, Attitudes, Conceptual Model, Conceptual Framework, Small islands, Social Exchange, Sustainability, Policy Tourism, small economies, and Commercial Services
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The potential of tourism e-commerce can be fully exploited if the online purchase behavior of travelers is well understood. This study tests a model predicting travelers' intent to purchase tourism products and services online using... more
The potential of tourism e-commerce can be fully exploited if the online purchase behavior of travelers is well understood. This study tests a model predicting travelers' intent to purchase tourism products and services online using data collected from travelers to Mauritius. Results from the structural equation modeling analysis support seven of the eight proposed hypotheses. Findings suggest that travelers' perceived usefulness, trust, and perceived risks are determinants of attitude to e-purchasing, which in turn significantly influences e-purchase intent. Results also suggest that perceived ease of use exerts a significant influence on perceived usefulness and trust while the latter negatively influences perceived risks. The managerial implications of the findings for online tourism and hospitality vendors and the study's limitations are discussed. Some directions for future research are also presented.
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ABSTRACT
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ABSTRACT Academic journals, with their rigorous peer-review process, play a central role in the scientification of knowledge. However, researchers and scholars often fail to appreciate and understand the black box of such agents of... more
ABSTRACT Academic journals, with their rigorous peer-review process, play a central role in the scientification of knowledge. However, researchers and scholars often fail to appreciate and understand the black box of such agents of knowledge production. Using content analysis of articles published in the two most recent volumes of Journal of Hospitality Marketing and Management, this article attempts to shed some lights on the nature of knowledge in hospitality studies. The results indicated that research is highly concentrated in the developed world, while the voices of developing nations are marginalized. This pattern provides some indication of underlying power dimensions in the production of hospitality knowledge. A social network analysis of contributors indicated that hospitality research is largely the product of collaborative efforts among members of the scientific community. Collaboration among researchers from the same country was the most common form of networking. In terms of research areas, the behaviors of travelers and consumers of hospitality and tourism services were well-studied among scholars.
Research Interests: Business, Marketing, Sociology, Tourism Studies, Knowledge Management, and 11 moreSociology of Knowledge, Hospitality Management, Social Network Analysis (SNA), Hospitality, Authorship, Tourism, Hospitality Industry, Social Network Analysis, Black Box, Commercial Services, and Tourism and Hospitality Management Studies
The influence of gender on travelers’ information search behavior continues to attract the attention of researchers. However, most scholars have studied gender differences from a biological perspective, treating gender as a unitary... more
The influence of gender on travelers’ information search behavior continues to attract the attention of researchers. However, most scholars have studied gender differences from a biological perspective, treating gender as a unitary theoretical concept. This article challenges such an approach and argues for a more differentiated perspective to the study of gender differences in information search behavior. It approaches gender differences from a psychological perspective and proposes that the travelers’ gender identity (masculinity and femininity) is a determinant of their search behavior. The gender schema theory and the selectivity theory inform the model of the study. Five hypotheses are developed and are tested using responses collected from 568 tourists. Results from the structural equation modeling analysis indicate support for all hypotheses, confirming that gender identity is a good determinant of travelers’ search behavior. Travelers displaying high femininity traits were f...
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Using a grounded theory approach, this study investigates stakeholders’ views of enclave tourism in the island of Mauritius. In-depth interviews with tourism stakeholders were conducted and data were analyzed using the principles of... more
Using a grounded theory approach, this study investigates stakeholders’ views of enclave tourism in the island of Mauritius. In-depth interviews with tourism stakeholders were conducted and data were analyzed using the principles of grounded theory. Seven subthemes emerged from the analysis and these were categorized into two main themes: enclave tourism as an agent of empowerment/improvement and enclave tourism as a force of sociocultural destruction/denial of freedom. The themes suggest that stakeholders’ views are nuanced and often contradictory. In line with the principles of grounded theory, a conceptual framework explaining stakeholders’ views of enclave tourism is developed. The findings are discussed with existing literature and similarities and contradictions are noted. Unlike what is usually claimed by researchers and scholars, enclave tourism development results in some environmental and socioeconomic benefits, particularly with respect to sustainable hotel operations, em...
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This study develops and tests a structural model of residents’ support tourism development, with the social exchange theory as its theoretical base. The model incorporates three exogenous latent variables, namely, community satisfaction... more
This study develops and tests a structural model of residents’ support tourism development, with the social exchange theory as its theoretical base. The model incorporates three exogenous latent variables, namely, community satisfaction with neighborhood conditions, community commitment, and satisfaction with community services. Perceived positive and negative impacts of tourism are proposed as the mediating variables between the exogenous latent variables and the ultimate dependent variable, given as support for tourism. Eight path hypotheses are proposed and tested using a sample of 363 residents. Perceptions of tourism impacts were found to influence support for tourism development. Findings also suggest that residents’ satisfaction with neighborhood conditions and community services are important determinants of perceived positive and negative impacts of tourism. Community commitment was found not to be an antecedent of attitudes to tourism. The practical implications of the stu...
Research Interests: Business, Marketing, Perception, Community Development, Structural Equation Modeling, and 15 moreTourism Community Development, Sustainable Tourism, Community Based Tourism, Social Exchange Theory, Tourism, Tourism Development, Latent variable, Destination Marketing, Risk and crisis management, Environmental Preservation through Tourism, Alterations in Urban Island Tourism Destinations, Structural model, Communication Service, Commercial Services, and Community satisfaction
Research suggests that the images residents hold about their community influence the political support for tourism. Yet, few researchers have investigated the image that local residents have of their own area. Borrowing from the existing... more
Research suggests that the images residents hold about their community influence the political support for tourism. Yet, few researchers have investigated the image that local residents have of their own area. Borrowing from the existing literature on place image and residents' perceptions of tourism impacts, a theoretical model incorporating these two lines of research is developed and tested using data
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... [CrossRef], [Web of Science ®] View all references) and Nunkoo and Ramkissoon (2011b).87. Nunkoo, R. and Ramkissoon, H. 2011b. Developing a community support model for tourism. ... Reynolds, PD 1971. A primer in theory construction ,... more
... [CrossRef], [Web of Science ®] View all references) and Nunkoo and Ramkissoon (2011b).87. Nunkoo, R. and Ramkissoon, H. 2011b. Developing a community support model for tourism. ... Reynolds, PD 1971. A primer in theory construction , Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill. ...
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... 230 residents, this study contributes to the limited literature on urban tourism in islands by examining the residents' attitudes toward tourism in Port Louis, the capital city of the... more
... 230 residents, this study contributes to the limited literature on urban tourism in islands by examining the residents' attitudes toward tourism in Port Louis, the capital city of the island ofMauritius. ... Gender and age were also found to be discriminators toward some tourism impact. ...
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During the past thirty years the Mauritian economy has diversified from a sugar cane based mono-crop economy to one based on sugar, manufacturing, financial services and tourism. Tourism which is the third pillar of the economy after the... more
During the past thirty years the Mauritian economy has diversified from a sugar cane based mono-crop economy to one based on sugar, manufacturing, financial services and tourism. Tourism which is the third pillar of the economy after the manufacturing and agricultural ...
Research Interests: Geography, Perception, Tourism Studies, Anatolia, Tourism Impacts, and 9 moreTourism, Destination Marketing, Tourism Development Impacts Towards Local Community, Risk and crisis management, Tourism Planning & Development, Environmental Preservation through Tourism, Alterations in Urban Island Tourism Destinations, Tourism Flows, and Tourism Sustainability
Understanding the information search behavior of travelers is important for providing effective marketing strategies and appropriate communication campaigns. Indeed, investigating and understanding such behaviors of tourists have a long... more
Understanding the information search behavior of travelers is important for providing effective marketing strategies and appropriate communication campaigns. Indeed, investigating and understanding such behaviors of tourists have a long tradition in tourism research. Using data collected ...
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Scholars investigating local residents' attitudes toward tourism have often used dif-ferent types of measurement procedures based on positivistic paradigms, while very few researchers have based their studies... more
Scholars investigating local residents' attitudes toward tourism have often used dif-ferent types of measurement procedures based on positivistic paradigms, while very few researchers have based their studies on purely qualitative approaches. This paper introduces and ...
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This article provides a systematic literature review of the hospitality, leisure, tourism, business, and management literature on luxury hospitality. We use a data-driven quantitative method (i.e., bibliometric review) to provide an... more
This article provides a systematic literature review of the hospitality, leisure, tourism, business, and management literature on luxury hospitality. We use a data-driven quantitative method (i.e., bibliometric review) to provide an integrated view of extant luxury hospitality research. The bibliographic coupling analysis allowed us to outline the field's intellectual structure and identify six clusters: (1) digital interactions, online reviews, and complaint handling; (2) brand attributes and service encounters; (3) status consumption and premium pricing; (4) service quality and consumer experiences; (5) sustainable practices and workplace environment; and (6) workforce-related traits. Furthermore, we identified 114 theoretical lenses, with the most frequently used theories being: (1) social exchange theory; (2) social identity theory; (3) theory of leisure class; (4) stimulusorganism-response theory; and (5) theory of uniqueness. Finally, building on our analyses, we outline a further research agenda.
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Research Interests: Business, Marketing, Sociology, Epistemology, Tourism Studies, and 14 moreKnowledge Management, Hospitality Management, Recreation & Leisure Studies, Theory, Taxonomy, Leisure Studies, Leisure (Social Sciences), Hospitality, Tourism, Hospitality Industry, Tourism Research, Meta Analysis and Systematic Review, Commercial Services, and Hospitality research
Research Interests: Business, Marketing, Government, Tourism Community Development, Sustainable Tourism, and 13 moreSocial Exchange Theory, Tourism Impacts, Political trust, Tourism, Destination Marketing, Government Behaviour in Tourism Development in Developing Countries, Risk and crisis management, Tourism Planning & Development, Environmental Preservation through Tourism, Alterations in Urban Island Tourism Destinations, Tourism Flows, Tourism Sustainability, and Commercial Services
This paper is a longitudinal study of 140 articles on residents’ attitudes to tourism published in Annals of Tourism Research, Tourism Management, and Journal of Travel Research from 1984 to 2010. Content analysis was used to determine... more
This paper is a longitudinal study of 140 articles on residents’ attitudes to tourism published in Annals of Tourism Research, Tourism Management, and Journal of Travel Research from 1984 to 2010. Content analysis was used to determine the nature of the articles and the research approaches used. Although most articles were atheoretical, over the survey period an increasing proportion of studies made use of a variety of theories drawn from other disciplines to investigate the topic. The majority of studies were quantitative in nature, while a few studies used qualitative and mixed-methods approaches. Based on the results, some implications for research design and possibilities for future research are discussed. The paper concludes that studies on the topic have evolved from being low on methodological sophistication and theoretical awareness to being high on both aspects. Research on this topic has reached a stage of active scholarship in theory development followed by empirical testing. The study's limitations are discussed, which readers should take into account when evaluating its findings.
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Power and trust are two fundamental components of sustainable and democratic tourism planning. Yet, research integrating the concepts of power and trust together has remained virtually silent in the tourism literature. This paper adopts... more
Power and trust are two fundamental components of sustainable and democratic tourism planning. Yet, research integrating the concepts of power and trust together has remained virtually silent in the tourism literature. This paper adopts Foucault’s theoretical perspectives on power to explain power relationships in tourism, particularly at the community level. The discussion suggests that Foucault’s conceptualizations of power, that is, ‘the omnipresence of power’ and ‘power in (tourism) networks’ are vital for an understanding of the politics of tourism. The paper further borrows from the political science literature and emphasizes on trust as another important ingredient of sustainable tourism development. More specifically, the arguments are based on the concept of political trust, conceptualized as citizens’ trust in tourism institutions. The paper adopts the institutional and cultural theories to establish the dimensions of political trust and argues that citizens’ trust in tourism institutions is vital for a democratic tourism planning process. The discussion further suggests that citizens’ power in tourism decision-making and their trust in tourism institutions are vital for gaining their political support for development.
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Research Interests: Marketing, Socioeconomics, Public Administration, Political Economy, Public Opinion, and 15 moreGovernment, Leadership, Governance, Local Government, Gender, Sustainable Tourism, Environmental Sustainability, Development, Political trust, Good Governance, Institutions, Models, National government, Party System, and Commercial Services
This paper in the first place attempts to assess the impact of air access liberalization on tourism development for Mauritius and secondly goes on to analyse the dual impact of the interplay between air access liberalization and marketing... more
This paper in the first place attempts to assess the impact of air access liberalization on tourism development for Mauritius and secondly goes on to analyse the dual impact of the interplay between air access liberalization and marketing promotion efforts as well. Using dynamic time series analysis, namely an Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) framework over the period 1970 to 2015, the results reveal that air access liberalization is an important element for tourism development. The findings also interestingly point to the positive and significant impact of the interplay between air access liberalization and marketing promotion efforts in attracting tourist.