Charlie Adams

Motivations of young people for visiting wine festivals.

Traditional wine marketing efforts have targeted established wine drinkers who are at least forty years old. These people are typically the largest consumers of wine. Recently however, more attention has been focused on younger people and efforts to develop their interest in wine consumption. Interest in younger consumers began as the wine industry began to realize that these people are the next potential group with the income and ability to purchase wine. Therefore, venues such as special events and festivals that can attract young people and provide an opportunity for them learn about wine can be important in influencing their attitudes and potential wine purchases. Food and wine festivals are one type of event that has become very popular in many countries. A large number of cities throughout the world have developed community events in order to promote wine and build local identity. This is especially true in new world wine regions where there is considerable interest in learning about wine. These events are often several days long and may coincide with the grape harvest or release of new wine. Many researchers recognize the need to encourage interest in wine among younger consumers in order to ensure the long-term survival of the wine industry (Fountain & Charters, 2004; Mitchell et al., 2000). There has been concern that the majority of wine is consumed by people aged 40 and older and that younger age groups have little interest in wine consumption. Levine and Morgan (2004) pointed out that the wine industry looks beyond the aging baby boomers market for its next generation of consumers. The goal is to identify the characteristics of these new market segments, find ways to reach them, capture their attention, and bring them to the wine world. Only recently efforts have been made by wine companies to appeal to young consumers. There have been a number of efforts to develop programs to attract young people to wine. For example, the Wine Brats movement is the first attempt to capture the youth market. The movement was started to help develop a strong core of young people who could be a new generation of wine consumers. Operating under the “Changing the Face of Wine” slogan, Wine Brats is a nonprofit organization that seeks to demystify wine among the younger generation through a variety of events and educational programs. Festivals can help attract young people as they typically offer opportunities to socialize and a variety of entertainment and music options. This association with the wine industry and the relaxed setting can help motivate young people to become interested in wine. The purpose of this study is to identify the motivations of young visitors to two festivals – one in Indiana and the other near Dallas, Texas. This study will examine their motivations and other characteristics and compare them with older visitors to these same festivals. By understanding the characteristics, attitudes, and behaviors of selected groups this can permit event organizers to tailor promotions and develop desired services. Data have been collected from the two wine festival sites which will provide added information than if the data were from the same festival. The festivals are very different in nature and by comparing the data there may be additional insights concerning the nature of visitors and their motivations.

Factors influencing hospitality recruiters' hiring decisions in college recruiting.

The purpose of this study was to assess the criteria employed by hospitality recruiters to select entry-level managers among hospitality graduating seniors. This article introduces the Factors Influencing Hospitality Recruiters’ Hiring Decisions Model based on researchers’ review of recruitment and hospitality literature. The Factors Influencing Hospitality Recruiters’ Hiring Decisions Model guided the qualitative inquiry of 14 in-depth interviews with 22 purposefully selected recruiters/managers, who represented 14 companies from five hospitality industry segments. The data were analyzed with the content analysis techniques of phenomenology qualitative research and revealed that leadership, relevant job experience, person-organization and person-job fit, and personality are the most influential factors in recruiters’ hiring decisions.

Social Acceptability’s Role in an Expanded Rational Expectations Model of Intention to Consume an Innovative Meat Product in a Restaurant Setting:

American consumers expect variety in their food choices and dining experiences. Marketers and producers are using innovation to keep pace with consumers’ desires for new and unusual food items. Exotic game such as emu offers consumers new experiences and variety in their meat choices. Past research has indicated social acceptability may be an important component in marketing these new innovative meat products. This investigation used Sapp’s expanded rational expectations intention model, a depiction of Ajzen and Fishbein’s theory of reasoned action, to investigate consumers’ intentions to try an innovative meat product in a restaurant setting. The expanded model added social acceptability and knowledge as additional constructs to Ajzen and Fishbein’s rational expectations model. Social acceptability had significant causal path estimates for attitude, subjective norm, and intention. This study is further confirmation of social acceptability as a possible new addition to Ajzen and Fishbein’s theory.

The impact of positive and negative e-comments on business travelers’ intention to purchase a hotel room

Purpose – This paper aims to find out the impact of business travelers’ behavioral belief on positive and negative e-comments, which consequently lead to intention to purchase a hotel room. To explore the relationships among attitude toward positive and negative e-comments with intention to purchase, the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) was used. Design/methodology/approach – Business travelers in the USA who read e-comments and made a hotel choice based on those e-comments within the past six months were targeted for this study. The TRA, as well as a wide-ranging review of literature, were used to develop the survey instrument. The survey was distributed through Qualtrics, which is an online questionnaire service platform. To measure the business travelers’ behavioral beliefs toward e-comments, a number of measures were developed for this research. The theories of Fishbein and Ajzen were used to examine business travelers’ behavioral beliefs toward positive and negative e-comments. All of the questions on...

China's Need for Tourism Development

Although tourism to the Peoples Republic of China has been greatly hurt by the governments repression of public dissent, China remains a destination of interest for many tourists. Eventually, the tourist dearth will end, and when it does, China will again face the problem of finding qualified hospitality workers

A Cluster Analysis of Young Adult College Students' Beef Consumption Behavior Using the Constructs of a Proposed Modified Model of Planned Behavior

The theory of reasoned action (TRA) served as the theoretical framework for this study. This study focused on the development and analysis of a proposed modified model of planned behavior (MMpB) to investigate the beef consumption habits of young adult college students. The participants were a convenience self-selected sample of young adult college students from a major southeastern and southwestern university. A self-report survey was administered to (N = 914) students in classrooms at both universities. Using cluster and discriminant analysis three distinct cluster groupings were found based on the behavior construct.

The Healthy Neighborhood Project

The Healthy Neighborhood project is a collaborative effort involving community residents and school personnel in the target community, the College of Human Sciences at Texas Tech University, a city-wide Neighborhood Association, St. Mary Hospital, the United Way, the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center, and from time to time, other community organizations. The project was inspired and initiated during 1994 by a steering committee composed of the Dean of the College of Human Sciences, the Vice President and Major Gifts Director of United Way, the Assistant Superintendent of the local school district, two representatives of the city’s United Neighborhood Association, and a Vice President of St. Mary Hospital. Later joining this original group were representatives from the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center, School of Nursing, and from the Texas Agricultural Extension Service.

Business Travelers’ Intention to Purchase: The Application of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)

ABSTRACT This research focused on parameters of e-comments effecting business travelers’ intention to purchase a hotel room. In order to explore the relationships among behavioral belief toward ease of use and usefulness of e-comments with intention to purchase, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was used. The results of this research indicated a positive relationship between usefulness of e-comments and business travelers’ intention to purchase. The study also found that age was a moderating effect on ease of use of e-comments. The findings of this research can help both hoteliers and online-review website operators. Since business travelers are considered an important target market in the hotel industry, hoteliers need to put more emphasis on these factors to attract more business travelers. On the other hand, online-review website operators should design websites that make it easier for users to write and read e-comment reviews.

How Do Online Reviews Affect Business Travelers' Accommodation Choices?: The Application of Theory of Reasoned Action TRA

This research focused on parameters of online reviews that affect business travelers` attitude and subjective norm on intention to purchase. The sub-constructs of attitude include: the quality of offered service, the value of money, hotel business facility, hotel security, food and beverage, and service recovery. Panel database, which was provided by Qualtrics, was used to examine the hypotheses of this study. Data was collected from 275 business travelers who stayed at a hotel in the last six months and read e-comments in advance of the purchase. Results of hypotheses testing indicated that quality of offered service, the value of money, and subjective norm have a positive effect on business travelers` intention to purchase. The findings of this research can help both hoteliers and online-review website operators. Since business travelers are considered an important target market in the hotel industry, hoteliers need to put more emphasis on these factors to attract more business travelers.