Deborah Fowler

Social Media Marketing: Applying the Uses and Gratifications Theory in the Hotel Industry

The purpose of this study was to examine the gratification factors that increase user satisfaction of hotels’ Facebook pages and to determine how user satisfaction affects visit intention to a hotel by applying the uses and gratifications (U&G) theory. Using structural equation modeling, this study suggested three gratifications of information, convenience, and self-expression serve as antecedents for user satisfaction with the hotel’s Facebook page, but two gratifications of entertainment and social interaction did not significantly affect user satisfaction with the hotel’s Facebook page. The results of the study also showed a positive relationship between user satisfaction with a hotel’s Facebook page and intention to stay at that hotel in the future. The findings of this study provide theoretical contributions by extending the application of the U&G theory to hotels Facebook usage and these results can guide hotel companies toward improving their Facebook pages in order to meet the users’ needs.

Exploring Customer Experiential Components and the Conceptual Framework of Customer Experience, Customer Satisfaction, and Actual Behavior

This study explored the college students on-campus foodservice experiential components and investigated the interrelationships among customer experience, customer satisfaction, and actual behavior. A sample of 566 respondents was collected at a large, public university in the southwestern United States. Findings showed respondents customer experience positively influenced customer satisfaction and, subsequently, customer satisfaction positively influenced respondents actual behavior. However, there was no direct effect of customer experience on actual behavior. The findings indicate that on-campus foodservice operators should pay additional attention to customer experience and customer satisfaction to increase customer visits. Limitations of the study and future research are also addressed.

Characteristics of Healthy Foods as Perceived by College Students Utilizing University Foodservice

This study was designed to determine the characteristics of healthy foods as perceived by college students at a university in the southwestern United States. It was also undertaken in order to provide a more uniform, foundational framework regarding the definitions of terms used by researchers studying healthy foods and behavioral choices regarding healthy food. The results of this study validated the premise that healthy foods could be identified by classifying several features common to them, and that healthy food could then be defined using these characteristics: “low calorie foods” (α = 0.869), “low fat foods & healthy drinks” (α = 0.764), and “low cholesterol foods “ (α = 0.734). This study helped to classify the characteristics of healthy foods as perceived by college students, and this information could be used by college foodservice managers to develop healthier menu items, and also by researchers studying this population and/ or related marketplaces.

Exploration of factors influencing body image satisfaction and purchase intent

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine which factors impact body image satisfaction of Generation Y college age and young professional females born between the years of 1980 and 1993, age 20-33 years in the State of Texas. Design/methodology/approach – An online survey created in Qualtrics was e-mailed to recruit research participants. Quantitative data were collected and analyzed in IBM SPSS Statistics 21. Exploratory factor analysis, reliability, computing variable mean, and linear multiple regression were performed. The variables explored were divided and grouped into major factors. Findings – Millennial females are influenced by their own personal preferences, morals and beliefs, and certain occasions, seasons, climate, and the weather. These factors significantly influence body image satisfaction. The model developed in this study provides researchers with a new perspective on body image satisfaction and purchase intent. This study extends the theory of reasoned action by identifying spe...

Mexican cross-border shoppers' motivations to the USA

Purpose – This study aims to examine the patterns of cross-border consumption of Mexican tourist-shoppers to the USA. More specifically, integrating literature from two ends – retail studies on shopping motivations and tourism research viewing cross-border shopping as leisure activities, this study aims to investigate the motivations of Mexican travelers as cross-border shoppers. Design/methodology/approach – A survey instrument was developed incorporating a set of 30 shopping motivation questions. Data were collected using the intercept survey methodology from 92 Mexican visitors who shopped at a major outlet shopping center in Central Texas in 2007. The motivational items were subsequently factor analyzed for possible underlying dimensions. Findings – Motivations of cross-border shopping by Mexicans in Texas demonstrated a combination of two aspects, the utilitarian and pleasurable shopping experiences. The cross-border consumption and shopping by Mexican residents in Texas, therefore, were both functio...