Antonis L. Theocharous

Virtual social interactions: Evolutionary, social psychological and technological perspectives

This paper represents an exploratory and quantitative investigation into online dating from evolutionary, psychological, and technological points of view. In the past decade, the relatively inexpensive availability of user-friendly, fast, and reliable Internet technology has appealed to millions of consumers who suddenly found themselves engrossed by this sensational medium of communication, information, consumerism, and service. The majority of Internet users tend to be either recreational or utilitarian oriented, using such medium for a wide variety of tasks ranging from corresponding with friends and significant others, information gathering, purchasing goods and services, and, increasingly so, seeking and securing suitable dating and marital partners. The following research questions constitute the driving force for the current investigation: What are the evolutionary and social psychological intricacies of online dating? What are the technological variants or dimensions that render the consumption of online dating services appealing to users? An online survey was administered to 247 subjects to explore these questions and determine the technological dimensions of virtual social interaction. Exploratory factor analysis was then conducted to analyse the data. Eight technological dimensions emerged as a result of the analysis and served as the basis for the studys technological perspectives model of virtual social interactions.

Sexual harassment in the hospitality industry in the Republic of Cyprus: theory and prevention.

The purpose of this exploratory investigation is to identify the nature of the optimal interpersonal (relational) conditions under which sexual harassment in the hospitality industry is likely to occur, as well as the intrapersonal (psychological and emotional) and occupational ramifications of this phenomenon for both the harasser and the harassed. In addition, it attempts to develop specific strategies for minimizing the incidence of sexual harassment by offering both general awareness seminars and guest lectures to the public, as well as training sessions to both employees and employers. This research project relies mainly on the collection of data through the door-to-door administering of a questionnaire to a randomly selected sample of 650 employees as well as to the in-depth interviewing of 20 sexually harassed female employees in the hospitality industry.

Adult vocational decision, career satisfaction and future intention: Insights from the hospitality industry

Purpose This study aims to examine the association between the elements which influence the career decision-making process of tenured hospitality employees and their existing level of career satisfaction (CSat) and future intention. Design/methodology/approach Adopting a quantitative approach, a questionnaire survey collected data from 564 individuals working as full-time employees at all levels of the hierarchy in four- and five-star hotel establishments in Cyprus. Structural equation modeling analysis, preceded by exploratory factor analysis, was utilized to assess the constructs’ relationships and address the postulated hypotheses. Findings The results suggest that accurate job-person fit, reflective career awareness and the individuals’ pragmatic occupational perceptions, positively influence their CSat and, subsequently, strengthen their intention to remain and progress within the industry. Research limitations/implications The study’s setting, the Cyprus hospitality industry, a Mediterranean seasonal destination with unique operational characteristics, may limit the generalizability of the findings to business environments in other regions. Practical implications Insights are of interest and value to stakeholders, including academic scholars wishing to build on this investigation, industry professionals striving to revitalize interest toward relevant professions, career counselors’ vocational decision guidance tactics and strategies and individuals envisioning a prosperous hospitality career. Originality/value The paper enhances and enriches our conceptual knowledge of a relatively barren landscape, investigating the behavior of mature employees’ choice of a hospitality career.

`The past is prologue to the future': an introspective view of hospitality and tourism research

Since the early 1970s, scholars have contributed their talent and intellect towards the establishment of the discipline and the education of the next generation of hospitality and tourism professionals. Espousing the popular notion “publish or perish”, numerous scholars have explored the discipline’s research foundations from an array of different perspectives, such as the ranking and rating of scholars, journal publications and institutions. This novel empirical endeavor aims to enrich the existing intellectual capital by investigating the publication strategies of forty-four prolific hospitality and tourism scholars, by focusing on three distinctive thematic areas, namely, a journal’s impact factor and citations, authorship specifics, and research themes. Findings are of interest to both current and future scholars in their quest for academic excellence and contributions, which further enhance the hospitality and tourism discipline.

A Research Model for Online Social Behavior Based on an Evolutionary, Social Psychological, and Technological Approach

This study represents an exploratory and quantitative investigation into online dating from evolutionary, psychological, and technological points of view. In the past decade, the relatively inexpensive availability of user-friendly, fast, and reliable Internet technology has appealed to millions of consumers who suddenly found themselves engrossed by this sensational medium of communication, information, consumerism, and service. The majority of Internet users tend to be either recreational or utilitarian oriented, using such medium for a wide variety of tasks ranging from corresponding with friends and significant others, information gathering , purchasing goods and services, and, increasingly so, seeking and securing suitable dating and marital partners. The following research questions constitute the driving force for the current investigation: What are the evolutionary and social psychological intricacies of online dating? What are the technological variants or dimensions that render the consumption of online dating services appealing to users? An online survey was administered to 247 subjects to explore these questions and determine the technological dimensions of virtual social interaction . Exploratory factor analysis was then conducted to analyze the data. Eight technological dimensions emerged as a result of the analysis and served as the basis for the study’s technological perspective model of virtual social interactions.

Career satisfaction and future intentions in the hospitality industry: An intrinsic or an extrinsic proposition?

ABSTRACT Job satisfaction is probably one of the most researched topics in the hospitality literature and, whereas career satisfaction, defined as the gratification with the accumulation of career-related experiences over time, has received much less attention. With the intention of enhancing our conceptual understanding and adding to this discourse, this study aims to investigate the effects of both intrinsic and extrinsic job traits on the individuals career satisfaction and subsequent intention to remain in the hospitality industry. The study investigates individuals working as full time employees in hotel establishments in Cyprus. Findings, some of which challenge existing theoretical paradigms, are of interest to stakeholders both in the industry and the academic community.

Tourism, Instability and Regional Interdependency: Evidence from the Eastern-Mediterranean

ABSTRACT Over the last three decades, we have widely witnessed the peculiar relationship between tourism and incidents of political instability. Responding to the urgent call for additional empirical inquiries, we conducted an econometric study, using the VAR-EGARCH-DCC model, on the regional tourism interdependency (volatility) between four Eastern Mediterranean countries, namely Greece, Turkey, Cyprus and Israel. Monthly arrival data from 1987 to 2012, along with a series of political instability variables collected from machine-coded databases, were utilized to model effects and to add empirical substance to contemporary and emerging theories. Our findings are relevant to industry stakeholders in that they explore tourism demand and volatilities. The findings indicate a positive effect on tourism demand in the presence of verbal or material cooperation between a destination country and others. In contrast, when investigating verbal conflict between a destination country and others, our findings reveal a negative impact on tourist arrivals and an increase in volatility in the destination country. Finally, in our investigation of incidents of material conflict, we saw a strong negative impact on tourist arrivals in all four destinations, accompanied by a significant increase in volatility.

Quality, Satisfaction and Customers’ Future Intention: The Case of Hotels’ Fitness Centers in Cyprus

ABSTRACT In an era of fierce competition, financial hardship, and volatile customer expectations the hospitality industry is seeking out new revenue centers that can both enrich the customer experience, and contribute to financial success. Capturing the attention of the industry, fitness centers have become a fundamental component of the contemporary hospitality experience with numerous strategic, operational and tactical implications. Responding to the need for further empirical investigation, the study, by adopting a quantitative methodology, holistically investigates quality, satisfaction, and behavioral intention in fitness centers currently operating in upscale hospitality establishments in Cyprus. Findings suggest that satisfaction with the provision of fitness services in hotels is primarily associated with the dimensions of employee behavior and workout facilities. Moreover, workout facilities was the only quality dimension which was significantly associated with the respondents’ intention to renew their membership, whereas a strong relationship between satisfaction and future intention was substantiated.

A Neural Network model of the impact of political instability on tourism

This paper presents an empirical integration of the dimensions of political instability with traditional exogenous variables, which are usually employed in econometric tourism demand forecasting, within a tourism demand model in order to investigate causal relationships between political instability and tourism. The work uses the POLINST Database, which contains events of political instability from 1977 to 1997 that took place in the Middle East - Mediterranean region. The model is based on a Focused Tapped Delay Line Neural Network (FTDNN) with a sliding time window of 12 months. The evaluation results show that our model can be used to achieve a good estimation of the effects of political instability on tourism. In an extended set of experiments we were able to show the relative importance of the political instability factors on tourism. Finally, our model also allowed to estimated the time lag between a political instability/terrorist event and the reduction of tourist number to the destination.

Political Public Opinion Capital

This special issue is intended as an analytical approach to the wide-ranging process of political public opinion capital. Since it may be read as an increasingly sophisticated concept, the reasons for analyzing such a process at all need to be signaled clearly from the outset of political marketing. For the scope of conceptual precision, it is necessary to consider the term capital separately from political public opinion—at least initially—in order to reflect upon varied genres of their actual and potential combination. ‘‘Public opinion’’ is much more commonly used in political marketing discourse, not with any great precision but nearly always with pragmatic connotations. Nevertheless, public opinion has been defined with rationality or the sureties of empiricism, and it has been studied extensively in political disciplines. Lippmann’s (2004) lengthy defense of affective factors that so frequently distort and determine perception has served as a point of departure to the study of ‘‘opinion’’ in the broadly sociological sense normally deployed in political science, communication, marketing, and media studies. In the political marketing context discussed here, the term political public opinion capital is further distinguishable from two closely connected practices: one, a practice of primary media production of perceptions and, two, systematic public opinion surveys. However, this special issue pays more attention to the mechanisms of transition in the realm of political marketing. As such, it examines the rise of political consumerism, with more and more changes being introduced by political organizations to maximize the ‘‘capital’’ of public opinion, aiming at the positive relationship between branches of the political apparatus and the citizens=consumers. This consumptionist position is called into study from the perspective of political marketing. Newman, in his model of voter behavior, developed the