Heejung Ro

Social Servicescape: The Impact of Social Factors on Restaurant Image and Behavioral Intentions

While most previous research has focused on the physical service environment, research on the social aspect in the service environment is scant. This study examined how social factors (employees, other customers, social crowding, and rapport) in the service environment influence restaurant image and customers’ behavioral intentions. Based on past research, a theoretical framework was developed and the data collected from online surveys was analyzed through structural equation modeling. Our findings, based on a survey of 500 participants, suggest that social factors influence restaurant image and, consequently, behavioral intentions.

The Use of Student Subjects in Hospitality Research: Insights from Subjective Knowledge

This study addresses the use of students as a research subject issue by examining three groups’ (hospitality students, other major students, and non-student adults) responses to service failure and recovery. The findings, based on two experiments, suggest similar levels of overall satisfaction and return intentions but differences in the magnitude of failure, negative emotions, complaint intentions and overall justice perceptions in the three sample groups. Hospitality students’ responses are closer to non-student adults’ than other major students’ and subjective knowledge of restaurant services provides an explanation for this pattern. Implications using student samples and evaluating research findings based on them are discussed.

Corporate Social Responsibility: The Effect Of Green Practices In A Service Recovery

This research builds on the halo effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) literature in marketing to provide insight into the positive effect of CSR in a service encounter. Using a company’s green practices as CSR, this research examines how customers’ perceptions of CSR might spill over into their evaluations of the company and behavioral intentions in a service recovery context. The results, from 418 participants of the scenario-based role-playing experiment, indicate that CSR and service recovery have a significant effect on customer satisfaction, trust, word-of-mouth recommendations, and repeat patronage intentions in a casual-dining restaurant setting. Also, an interaction effect suggests that the CSR effect is more pronounced in a positive service recovery compared to a negative service recovery. The findings of this research provide researchers and practitioners with a better understanding of CSR and the positive influence it has on customer responses in a service encounter.

Silent voices: nonbehavioral reactions to service failures.

Past research has focused on complainers and their behavioral responses to service failures, yet research on “silent voices” or noncomplainers is scant. To bridge that gap, this study investigates two types of nonbehavioral dissatisfaction responses, namely loyalty and neglect. The study results, based on 177 noncomplainers in restaurant, auto-repair, and medical services, indicate that a higher emotional bonding leads customers to choose loyalty over neglect. Also, return intentions were higher for loyalty than neglect in restaurant and auto-repair contexts but they were not different in the medical services context. The implications for service managers and researchers are discussed.

Customer Dissatisfaction Responses to Restaurant Service Failures: Insights Into Noncomplainers From a Relational Perspective

This research investigates the reasons for noncomplaining and compares the return intentions of complainers and noncomplainers after a service failure in the restaurant context. Particularly, this research focuses on differentiating the two types of dissatisfaction responses from noncomplainers: loyalty and neglect. A survey of 171 respondents (81 complainers and 90 noncomplainers) is analyzed. Regarding the reasons for noncomplaining, four dimensions are identified and two dimensions (compassionate trust and lack of responsiveness) provide evidence for distinguishing loyalty from neglect. The loyalty customers show higher compassionate trust for and higher perception of responsiveness from the company than neglect customers. Customers’ return intentions are examined via two types of complainers (recovery satisfied and recovery dissatisfied) and two types of noncomplainers (loyalty and neglect). The findings suggest that loyalty customers have higher return intentions than neglect customers and their return intentions are as high as those of complainers who received satisfactory service recoveries.

The Effect of Jay-customer Behaviors on Employee Job Stress and Job Satisfaction

Guest-contact employees are often exposed to stressful situations resulting from jay-customer behaviors. The purpose of this study is to examine how jay-customer behaviors (customer incivility and customer aggression) affect employee job stress and job satisfaction. Surveys of 210 participants working as guest-contact employees in hospitality organizations were analyzed. The results show that customer incivility leads to decreased employee job satisfaction, which is fully mediated by increased job stress. The findings of this study suggest that hospitality managers should acknowledge the negative impact of jay-customer behaviors on employees and make efforts to minimize this effect through training, procedures, and supporting systems.

An Affective Image Positioning of Las Vegas Hotels

The key to a hotels positioning is to understand how it is perceived by its customers. Previous research has focused on cognitive attributes (e.g., price, service quality, amenities), yet it can be argued that customers also use their feelings to differentiate hotels. This study explores the positioning of major hotels on the Las Vegas Strip based on their affective image. By using Multi-Dimensional Scaling (MDS), twelve hotels are mapped based on the photo images. Additionally, a cluster analysis is performed to aid the interpretation of the MDS configuration. Implications of our findings for hospitality managers are discussed.

An Exploratory Study of Home Brewers’ Motivational Factors

Recently there has been growth in the home brewing of beer. The purpose of this exploratory study is to identify the motivational factors for becoming a home brewer and the motivational factors for continuing to participate in the home brewing activity. A mixed-mode study utilizing semi-structured interviews and a survey instrument was used to understand home brewer motivational factors. The results indicate that home brewers engage and continue to participate in the activity primarily because of intrinsic motivational factors of fun, excitement, and enjoyment, and to a lesser degree by extrinsic motivational factors of learning opportunities and non-monetary savings.

Gender Dynamics from an Arab Perspective Intercultural Service Encounters

Gender plays an important role in Arab customers’ evaluation of intercultural service encounters. Even though Middle Eastern tourists are a growing market segment in the travel industry, academic research on them from a service management perspective remains relatively sparse. To understand Arab customers’ evaluation of service experiences, this research focuses on the gender dynamics between service providers and Arab customers during a service encounter. Online surveys of a scenario-based experiment were created and distributed to respondents of Arab descent in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates. The findings, based on 326 respondents, suggest that Arab customers are more comfortable—more satisfied with the service encounter and more willing to provide feedback—if the employee is the same gender. However, employee efforts to solicit feedback did not intensify the gender interaction effect on comfort. The findings of this research provide valuable implications for hospitality managers to better cater to the needs of Arab customers by understanding gender boundaries of them in an intercultural service encounter.

An exploratory study of gay travelers: socio-demographic analysis

Purpose This exploratory study aims to examine gay travelers’ travel psychographics (allocentricity and psychocentricity) in relation to openness about sexual orientation, collective self-esteem and socio-demographic variables. Design/methodology/approach A survey is developed and study participants are recruited from attendees at a large annual gay event. A total of 196 gay men were used as samples for correlation analysis and independent samples t-tests. Findings The findings suggest that collective self-esteem is positively correlated with allocentricity. Also, gay couples showed higher allocentricity than single gay men, and white/Caucasian gay men showed higher allocentricity than other ethnic minorities gay men. Yet, psychocentricity was higher for lower income gay men than higher income gay men. Practical implications Tourism marketers should recognize that the gay market is not as homogenous as it has been portrayed in the tourism literature. Hospitality service providers and destination marketers should be aware of the importance of the gay community, gay travelers’ psychographics and, more importantly, the diversity within the gay market to develop effective products and services to better position themselves in this niche market. Originality/value This research contributes to the tourism literature by enhancing the understanding of gay travelers’ socio-demographic profiles and their travel-related behaviors and perceptions.