Birgit Muskat

Generation Y: evaluating services experiences through mobile ethnography

Purpose – This paper suggests mobile ethnography as a method for data collection, where Generation Y customers are integrated as active investigators. The paper aims to contribute to the debate on museums as experience‐centred places, to understanding how the experience is perceived by Generation Y, to identifying the customer journey, to providing an insight into service experience consumption and to deriving managerial implication for the museum industry of how to approach Generation Y.Design/methodology/approach – Mobile ethnography is applied to the National Museum of Australia in Canberra with a sample of Generation Y visitors as the future visitor market.Findings – The paper finds that there is a need to involve museum management in measuring museum experiences, especially with regard to the definition and improvement of the service‐delivery processes. Service experience must be appropriately managed by museum operators by collecting, evaluating, storing and reusing relevant data on customer experie...

Services research in tourism: advocating the integration of the supplier side

Service quality and design researchers in tourism have long been directed by demand-driven paradigms and consumer-centred rationales. Ontologies and epistemologies are largely output orientated and customer centred, that is, performance of services, number of satisfied customers, loyal repeat visitors, overnight stays, financial performance and others. We argue that a need exists to reduce this imbalance. This conceptual article reviews the relevant literature before developing five fundamental premises regarding the enabler-oriented view of the tourism industry. Future research should conduct empirical studies to validate and/or modify the premises presented in this conceptual article.

Understanding the cultural antecedents of quality management in tourism

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to analyse the causes that have led to a rather fragmented view of quality management among tourism marketing organisations in Germany. The aim is to identify and to interpret the relevant societal cultural factors underpinning German management. The paper examines the influence of culture on the perception and performance of quality management in tourism organisations. Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on a data set which previously explored and analysed the diffusion of Total Quality Management in German public tourism marketing organisations. In this paper, the data set has been re-analysed and mapped against societal cultural elements. The analysis evaluates cultural factors that influence perceptions among German tourism marketing organisations on quality management. Findings: This paper identifies cultural aspects that influence the perception and performance of quality in tourism organisations. The findings relate cultural antecedents in three identified core issues of quality: (1) underdeveloped training and motivational events for staff, (2) unbalanced strategic positioning in terms of quality and, (3) weak commitment to standards and guidelines. Practical Implications: The implications that can be drawn from the findings of this paper are twofold. First, the results could be integrated into future educational policies in tourism. Second, implications and learning for tourism managers from this paper relate to a holistic, integrative, and systems-based approach to quality management instead of only implementing individual quality aspects.

Integrating tourism into disaster recovery management: the case of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami 2011.

The aim of this chapter is to analyse the impact that tourism makes in the lifecycle of disaster recovery. A review of the literature on disaster lifecycle models identifies that there are no integrated models which combine the research domains of disaster recovery and tourism crisis management. This chapter integrates tourism into the existing disaster management models in order to understand how, and where, tourism makes an impact on disaster recovery. The case study of the Great Japan Earthquake stresses the significant impact that tourism operators, tourists and the energetic mindset of tourism and hospitality staff have in disaster recovery. Based upon the case data a new, integrated lifecycle model of disaster recovery is presented, demonstrating a more nuanced role for tourism. Integrating Tourism into Disaster Recovery Management. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304252843_Integrating_Tourism_into_Disaster_Recovery_Management [accessed Apr 23, 2017].

A Systematic Review of Quality of Student Experience in Higher Education

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify and synthezise major streams of research on quality of student experience in higher education, in order to present an agenda for future research. Design/methodology/approach – A systematic review of high quality journals published during the period 2000 to 2014 in the areas of quality of student experience and higher education was performed.Findings: Findings highlight current research trends on the quality of student experience in higher education. Results show five prevailing research streams: 1) exploration of learning experience; 2) exploration of student experience; 3) gender differences in assessment of higher education experience; 4) improvement in quality of student experience, 5) student satisfaction with higher education experience.Research limitations/implications: The identification of the five research streams presented in the findings of this paper provide the basis for a synthesis of key issues identified within each research stream. These discussions, along with the identification of the purposes and limitations of existential research allow existential issues concerning research on quality of student experience in higher education to be addressed.Practical implications: Literature currently portrays the quality of student experience as a student-centric idea. Together with the purposes and limitations identified in existing research, the paper proposes an agenda for future research that increases the variety of research streams that is essential to provide a deeper understanding of the student experience to enhance the delivery of quality in higher education. Originality/value: The findings contribute to the research scene by providing important insights in terms of the current trends and focus of existing research in the area of quality of student experience in higher education.

How Do Europeans Travel in Australia? Examining Cultural Convergence in Travel Behaviour

The impacts of globalisation and cultural convergence theory have been discussed in various research areas. Scholars agree that global consumer behaviour becomes increasingly homogenous. However, in tourism, there is still evidence that visitor markets are distinguished and segmented according to their nationality. This study argues that national borders have lost in significance to separate markets. By means of a correspondence analysis, this study provides evidence that European travel behaviour in Australia shows similar activity patterns. The findings highlight that country-based visitor segmentation has lost momentum.

A power perspective on knowledge transfer in internal succession of small family businesses

The aim of this paper is to apply a power perspective to knowledge transfer in internal succession processes of small family businesses. We argue that knowledge is a source of power. Distilling existing literature on small family businesses, knowledge transfer and power theory, we focus on the role of owner-manager and successor in internal succession. Propositions are formulated, theorizing the influence of (1) expert power, (2) decision-making power, (3) trust, (4) rivalry, and (5) capabilities. First, we conclude, familiness and high levels of trust in small family businesses influence power relationships between successor and predecessor positively. Second, the existence of high power imbalances within familiness can slow progress in knowledge transfer in succession, and particularly negatively impact on tacit knowledge transfer from one generation to the next.

The nexus between sustainable practices in hotels and future Gen Y hospitality students’ career path decisions

ABSTRACT This study explored tertiary hospitality students’ attitudes and overall perceptions about green and sustainable practices; and how these may impact their future career paths in the hotel industry. A thematic analysis with data from 12 semi-structured interviews with students in a hotel management school in Australia was used to identify patterns and interpretive themes. Results revealed positive attitudes among Generation Y hospitality students towards working in a green and sustainable hotel environment. Implications highlight the need for sustainability education in the curriculum of tertiary education providers and strong emphasis on sustainability practices in employee training programs. The results also suggest possible impacts of sustainability practices in recruiting and hiring in the hospitality industry and how this may affect future hospitality employees and leaders.

Word-of-Mouth Amplified – An Exploration of Hotel Customer Feedback Websites

The tourism industry has been one of the industries that have been active in online promotion since the start of the Internet. Most hotels now have a website that promotes their property and provides information about the amenities that are offered, in most cases augmented by the display of photos, downloadable brochures and videos. Most offer customers also the possibility to book online and to communicate via e-mail. Customers have relied on the information provided by hotels and some reviews by third parties such as travel guidebooks.

Employee Empowerment: The Rhetoric and the Reality

Book Review: Rozana Huqs book investigates how formal and informal Employee Empowerment concepts are understood and perceived in organisational reality. Her work is structured into eight parts with additional information included in the appendix. The introduction is followed by a literature review, which introduces and reflects on the four main themes around employee empowerment: power‐sharing, participative decision‐making, devolution of responsibility and a people‐oriented leadership style. Her qualitative research comprises two case studies, in which she is seeking to examine the implementation of employee empowerment in two organisations. The book is essentially based on Huqs PhD thesis, which was conducted in the UK. Within the study she also guides the reader to additional information on her website, which provides more of her background in human resources management and consultancy work.