Browsing by Author "Jones, Robert P."
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Item Exploring the Interplay between Memorable Food-based Tourism Experiences, Place Attachment, and Responsible Behavioral Intentions: The Moderating Role of Tourist-Resident Interactions(2023-12) Emadlou, Nafas (Atefeh); Velikova, Natalia; Yuan, Jessica J.; Application/pdf; Jai, Tun-Min (Catherine); Jones, Robert P.Tourism policy makers face challenges in addressing the negative impacts of tourism and developing new strategies to implement sustainability in destinations. The present work introduces a novel approach to sustainable tourism by highlighting the significance of place attachment formed through memorable food-based experiences. This approach serves as a new driver for positive outcomes, benefiting both people and places. Data have been collected via an online survey programmed in Qualtrics and distributed to 389 international tourists who had a memorable food-based experience during one of their recent travels. The partial least squares technique has been employed for data analysis. Results show that food-related activities have the potential to engage tourists, create positive experiences, shape or develop visitors' attachment to destinations, and foster their intention to adopt responsible behaviors such as supporting local businesses, respecting local customs and traditions, and preserving the environment. The findings highlighted that the impact of memorable food-based experiences on place attachment is moderated by tourist-resident interactions. The development of a new scale to measure these social interactions as a new dimension of place attachment was suggested for future research. Prior research has found strong links between individuals' place attachment and their inclination towards pro-environmental actions in natural areas. However, investigation of the connection between tourists' place attachment and their responsible behavior in residential tourist destinations is limited. Additionally, the few studies conducted in this domain have often focused on the impact of place attachment on environmentally responsible behavior, and other aspects of responsible tourism (e.g., social, cultural, promotional, economic, and legal) have been neglected. The present study is the first attempt to examine the impact of such a relationship on different aspects of tourists’ responsible behaviors in residential tourism destinations. Another contribution of this study is revealing that place attachment formed through memorable food-based experiences has a “carry-over” effect. It was found that place attachment can not only contribute to tourists' responsible behavioral intentions towards a specific place, but also contribute to their responsible behavioral intentions in other destinations. Prior research acknowledges the difficulty of studying place attachment in the tourism context due to tourists' brief visits, which prevents the formation of attachment to destinations. However, this research underscores the significance of memorable food-based tourism experiences, which can occur even within a short timeframe, in creating or fostering place attachment in tourists. Policymakers can use the insights from this study to design strategies that develop a deeper sense of attachment among short-term visitors, which can contribute to the long-term sustainability of tourism destinations.Item Sales Employee Perception toward Practicing Up-selling and Cross-selling Strategies based on IPARTheory: Mixed-Method Study(2023-05) Choubtarash Abardeh, Homa; Blum, Shane C.; Jones, Robert P.; Yuan, JessicaThe purpose of this study was to test sales employees' perception toward practicing up-selling and cross-selling strategies among sales employees in lodging based on the "interpersonal acceptance and rejection theory" (IPARTheory). As a study outcome, this study examined how sales employees' up-selling and cross-selling practices affected firm performance. Data was collected from 500 surveys of employees by random sampling and interviewing 30 general managers through purposeful sampling based on a multilevel convergent mixed-method study with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The resulting data from sales employees’ surveys were compared to those of general managers’ statements over the specific data-collected period. The theoretical and managerial implications were provided at the end.Item The effect of information overload on consumers’ purchase intentions(2022-05) Olevskyi, Bogdan; Velikova, Natalia; Dodd, Tim H.; Jones, Robert P.The study examined whether consumers are affected by information overload caused by a quantity of product attributes and textual descriptions of the attributes. First, the study investigated whether information overload affects consumers' stress and frustration (subjective state). Next, it was examined whether information overload, stress, and frustration modify consumers' purchase intentions. Respondents' product knowledge and shopping preferences (online versus brick-and-mortar stores) were taken into consideration as well. Wine was used a product to test the research hypotheses. Two experiments with two sets of stimuli were employed. For Experiment 1, wine tasting notes were used as stimuli. The notes included product attributes with detailed textual descriptions. For Experiment 2, wine labels with no textual descriptions were used. The no information overload condition was measured by stimuli that included nine product attributes; whereas the information overload condition was measured by stimuli with 18 product attributes. The purpose of using two types of product descriptors was to measure if quantity (nine versus 18 product attributes) and quality (with versus without textual description) of information had a different effect on information overload perceptions among respondents. Structural equation modeling for testing the relationships between defined constructs and latent variables was performed in both experiments. The main findings suggest that an increased number of product attributes in wine tasting notes that included textual descriptions of product attributes indeed triggered information overload. Participants reported feeling overwhelmed when trying to process the information provided in the stimuli. On the contrary, significant results regarding information overload were not found among respondents who saw wine labels without a textual description of product attributes. Therefore, there is a significant difference in the type of presented information in product descriptors, suggesting that the abundance of textual information triggers information overload. In both experiments, information overload affected respondents’ subjective state, measured as feelings of stress and frustration. Regardless of the type of stimuli, information overload increased respondents' levels of stress and frustration when they felt overwhelmed by the provided information. Further, it was found that information overload itself did not significantly affect respondents' purchase intention. However, stress caused by information overload did. Results from the structural equation modeling indicated that stress positively stimulated respondents' purchase intention. Finally, the results from Experiment 2, where respondents saw wine labels, suggested that information overload increased the perception of risk associated with purchase, which in turn decreased respondents' purchase intention. The obtained results suggest that despite information overload not directly influencing respondents' purchase intention, it triggers other factors that reduce purchase intentions. Overall, this study extended knowledge about the information overload theory and produced a conceptual model that can serve as a valuable framework for future academic research on this topic. Additionally, insights about the adverse effects of information overload can help retail managers understand consumer behavior better.Item The Role of Photograph Aesthetics in Wine Tourists’ Decision Making(2023-05) Alimohammadirokni, Mohammad; Velikova, Natalia; Jones, Robert P.; Jai, Tun-Min; Yuan, Jessica J.This study aims to investigate the impacts of amateur and professional photograph aesthetics found in Google reviews on wine tourists' attitudes, perceptions of the source's credibility, and visit intentions throughout the information search phase using a Stimulus- Organism- Response framework. A secondary goal is to investigate the impact of individual characteristics (i.e., risk-taking propensity and involvement) and contextual cues (i.e., reliance on reviews) as moderators on the relationships mentioned above. An online survey questionnaire was utilized to collect data from 703 participants residing in the U.S. SPSS and PLS-SEM were used to analyze the data. The findings showed that photograph aesthetics had a significant and positive relationship with perceived credibility, visitors' attitudes toward wineries, and visit intentions. The perceived credibility of the source played a key role in the decision-making process, influencing a person's attitudes toward a winery and their intentions to visit. Attitude toward a winery also positively impacted visit intention. The role of reliance on reviews, risk-taking propensity, and involvement was not confirmed as moderators. The multi-group analysis technique showed significant variations between the professional and amateur aesthetics with respect to the effect of aesthetics on credibility, aesthetics on attitude, attitude on visit intention, and the moderating effect of risk-taking propensity on the relationship between perceived credibility and visit intention. The effect was stronger in the professional aesthetics group in all these relationships. The current study contributes to the literature on electronic word-of-mouth communication (reviews), online marketing, photo aesthetics, and behavioral models of wine tourism. It also adds to the knowledge on the impact of message type in an online setting in the tourism industry. The present study's findings have significant practical implications for wineries that utilize websites and social media to interact with customers, advertise their wines and services, and promote their brands. The current study's findings will also provide important implications for winery managers regarding which photos they should focus more on online platforms to attract more visitors, increase sales, and remain competitive. The study results will also provide insights for marketers and managers in the wine industry to develop better marketing strategies. Finally, this study's findings can be applied to other settings such as restaurants, hotels, and tourism destinations.Item The use of mobile travel apps to purchase hotel rooms: Differences by generation(2022-05) Mammen, Rachel; Yuan, Jessica; Jones, Robert P.; Blum, ShaneThe competition to attract travelers to book airlines and hotel rooms online is intense. Traditionally, travel agents have long been employed by airlines, the lodging sector, cruise lines, and rental car companies to sell their products and services to customers.This study aims to investigate the attitudes of Millennials and Gen Zers toward mobile travel apps, framing the research in the context of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). the CFA and SEM analysis were completed using AMOS Version 25 to analyze all data collected for this study. A total of 541 respondents were used for this study. The results of factor loadings provided evidence in supporting that there was a high dependability in the relations of the latent variable to their indicators.