Paulo Rita

Business intelligence in banking

A recent review on the application of business intelligence to the banking domain.Coverage of the last twelve years of scientific literature on those subjects.Usage of text mining and the latent Dirichlet allocation to analyze articles.Provide new insights and future research trends which may benefit banking business. This paper analyzes recent literature in the search for trends in business intelligence applications for the banking industry. Searches were performed in relevant journals resulting in 219 articles published between 2002 and 2013. To analyze such a large number of manuscripts, text mining techniques were used in pursuit for relevant terms on both business intelligence and banking domains. Moreover, the latent Dirichlet allocation modeling was used in order to group articles in several relevant topics. The analysis was conducted using a dictionary of terms belonging to both banking and business intelligence domains. Such procedure allowed for the identification of relationships between terms and topics grouping articles, enabling to emerge hypotheses regarding research directions. To confirm such hypotheses, relevant articles were collected and scrutinized, allowing to validate the text mining procedure. The results show that credit in banking is clearly the main application trend, particularly predicting risk and thus supporting credit approval or denial. There is also a relevant interest in bankruptcy and fraud prediction. Customer retention seems to be associated, although weakly, with targeting, justifying bank offers to reduce churn. In addition, a large number of articles focused more on business intelligence techniques and its applications, using the banking industry just for evaluation, thus, not clearly acclaiming for benefits in the banking business. By identifying these current research topics, this study also highlights opportunities for future research.

Sentiment Classification of Consumer-Generated Online Reviews Using Topic Modeling

ABSTRACT The development of the Internet and mobile devices enabled the emergence of travel and hospitality review sites, leading to a large number of customer opinion posts. While such comments may influence future demand of the targeted hotels, they can also be used by hotel managers to improve customer experience. In this article, sentiment classification of an eco-hotel is assessed through a text mining approach using several different sources of customer reviews. The latent Dirichlet allocation modeling algorithm is applied to gather relevant topics that characterize a given hospitality issue by a sentiment. Several findings were unveiled including that hotel food generates ordinary positive sentiments, while hospitality generates both ordinary and strong positive feelings. Such results are valuable for hospitality management, validating the proposed approach.

A service quality evaluation scale for the hospitality sector: dimensions, attributes and behavioural intentions

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a scale for service quality evaluation in the hospitality sector. This scale has two aims: to assess the dimensions and attributes consumers use when evaluating the quality of the service provided by hotels, and to determine what influence service quality perceptions have on consumer behaviour, namely on customer intentions to return and to recommend the hotel.Design/methodology/approach – The methodology used to develop the scale was divided into three stages: first, two well‐known models (SERVQUAL with direct formulation and SERPERF) were tested in 32 hotels, through 532 questionnaires. As these models were not conclusive, a second phase took place: 109 in‐depth interviews were conducted to assess the relevant factors or attributes for consumers during a hotel stay, both for the holiday and business segments. Based on the results of the interviews, a questionnaire was designed to evaluate service quality provided by four and five star hotels. On this thi...

Tourism in the European Union

Discusses the importance of tourism as the largest generator of wealth and employment in the world and the fact that, despite the clear evidence of tourism importance in economic and social terms and its undeniable perspectives of growth along the next two decades, it has registered great difficulties in obtaining its legal political recognition within the European Union. In conclusion, it is suggested that there ought to be a political recognition of the European tourism as one of the activities of the future, with an enormous capacity to provide new opportunities to satisfy important political objectives, such as the economic growth and wellbeing of populations, employment, regional development, and patrimonial value.

Modelling and testing consumer trust dimensions in e-commerce

Abstract Prior research has found trust to play a significant role in shaping purchase intentions of a consumer. However there has been limited research where consumer trust dimensions have been empirically defined and tested. In this paper we empirically test a path model such that Internet vendors would have adequate solutions to increase trust. The path model presented in this paper measures the three main dimensions of trust, i.e. competence, integrity, and benevolence. And assesses the influence of overall trust of consumers. The paper also analyses how various sources of trust, i.e. consumer characteristics, firm characteristic, website infrastructure and interactions with consumers, influence dimensions of trust. The model is tested using 365 valid responses. Findings suggest that consumers with high overall trust demonstrate a higher intention to purchase online.

A tourist market portfolio for Portugal

The main objective of this study is the application of portfolio analysis, as an instrument of decision‐making support, to the selection of priority market segments for Portugal. The results obtained validate the use of competitiveness and attractiveness as tools for the selection and management of generating markets for a tourist destination. The selection of factors to calculate the values of competitiveness and attractiveness was based on a review of the literature on destination competitiveness, portfolio models in general and studies applied to tourist destinations. The relative importance of the factors was determined after consultation with a panel of experts. Cronbach’s alpha test was used to verify the scale reliability. Tourist arrivals, tourists stays, foreign exchange revenue and bednights in hotel units were used as performance indicators of generating countries. Correlation and multiple linear regression analysis were used to study the relation between attractiveness and competitiveness and performance.

Strategic diagnostics and management decision making: a hybrid knowledge‐based approach

A conceptual model is introduced whereby the focus is placed on environmental scanning, diagnostics and decision-making on the basis of managerial judgement through the application of tools such as intelligent agents, hybrid intelligent systems, scenario analysis and knowledge-based systems. The model has a critical stage as an antecedent to the strategic advice that encompasses the issues of strategic fit to purpose (theme, industry, company and strategic business unit-driven). A number of applications dealing with these four layers are shown, as well as an illustration of hybrid intelligent systems for strategic marketing planning. Copyright

Exploring backpackers’ perceptions of the hostel service quality

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of backpackers’s evaluation of service quality provided by hostels by developing a battery of items to assess perceptions of the overall hostel experience. Design/methodology/approach – Scale development took a mixed approach that combines qualitative and quantitative research. First, the authors performed a content analysis of reviews provided by guests in hostel booking web sites, in-depth interviews with hostel managers and focus groups with guests, to develop a battery of items to assess the hostel experience from the guests’ perspective. Then, a quantitative survey (n = 222) was conducted, to explore the dimensionality of service quality in this sector. Lisbon hostels are the target of this study, as they received several awards based on the online reviews of backpackers. Findings – The results revealed that service quality is a multidimensional concept and includes six dimensions, namely, social atmosphere, location and city conne...

Attention, emotions and cause-related marketing effectiveness

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to explain how cognitive and emotional responses may influence decisions to purchase cause-related products. Design/methodology/approach – An experimental design clarifies how autonomic reactions determine altruistic choices in a simulated shopping environment. Eye-tracking and electrodermal response measurements were set to predict choices of hedonic vs utilitarian cause-related vs unrelated products. Findings – Emotional arousal, pleasure and attention to the cause-related bundle are associated with altruistic behaviour in hedonic choices. When facing utilitarian choices, customers focus on brand logo and donation amount while experiencing pleasure, but emotional arousal does not increase marketing effectiveness in this case. Research limitations/implications – The experiment may be replicated in the real-world shopping environment, but spurious influences will be difficult to control. Distracting cues such as background music and scents used to increase positive e...

High tech meets high touch in upscale hotels

Purpose This paper presents an analysis of the impact of current technologies on customer experiences in upscale hotels and assesses the potential of the latest technologies for enhancing customers’ stay. Design/methodology/approach A two-step approach was applied in this study. The qualitative phase included an examination of upscale hotel websites, interviews with hotel managers and an internet search regarding the latest technological innovations in hotels. In the quantitative stage, a questionnaire was developed for hotel guests, generating a sample of 310 valid completed questionnaires. Findings The results reveal that hotel guests value digital involvement in their hotel experience. Moreover, business travellers and younger generations give greater importance to latest technologies. Originality/value This study analyses the most innovative technologies, providing guidance for hoteliers wishing to upgrade or implement new technologies. Based on the findings, hoteliers can achieve greater differentiation by offering the most important and latest technology to guests, enhancing their experience and attracting new customers, which can potentially lead to increased revenues. The study’s results are also important because they include the perceptions of both managers and customers.