Matthias 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.

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.

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.

Qualitative interpretive mobile ethnography

Abstract A growing number of studies use mobile ethnography and mobile devices to collect data, yet studies reveal a lack of coherent definition and inconsistencies in validity criteria. We draw on relevant literature from tourism, health and retail, and connect research designs utilizing mobile ethnographic methods. We show how these existing studies capture mobilities and social phenomena in boundaryless dynamic settings, allowing researchers to co-create knowledge with their participants. As a result, we offer a framework for mobile ethnography, consisting of four explanatory dimensions: the role of the researcher; focus of research; data collection and tools; and data analysis. Our methodological contribution specifies validity criteria and derives concrete implications for research practices in qualitative interpretive mobile ethnography.