Ramón Rufín

Adjusted expectations, satisfaction and loyalty development

The primary contribution of this article is an analysis of the influence of the use of individuals expectations about a service consumption on the behavior models, that examine the process according to which loyalty and satisfaction are generated. More specifically, the research examines the implications of considering adjusted expectations, namely those that tourists have after having visited a destination, rather than those expectations they may have prior to their visit. By developing structural equations, the research verifies that the use of adjusted expectations modifies the chain of causal relationships described in the cognitive–affective explanatory models for tourist satisfaction and loyalty.

The mediating effect of innovation in the relationship between retailers' strategic orientations and performance

Purpose – This research focuses on the effects that three different strategic orientations have on firm performance in the specific domain of retailing. The paper also aims to deal with the mediating role that innovation plays in this relationship.Design/methodology/approach – Component analysis is used to find out which factors really build up each of the constructs involved. In order to analyze the convergence of the model a confirmatory factor analysis is performed by means of a structural equation model based on LISREL 8.54 technique.Findings – From the 244 responses the results show that market driving proved to be a strong predictor of performance in addition to innovation acting as a mediator between strategic orientations in retailers and business performance.Research limitations/implications – In a future research it would be advisable to include supplier and customer perceptions of the strategic orientation carried on by retailing firms. The study of different innovation categories should also b...

Building trust and commitment to blogs

Building trust and commitment among a local politicians blog visitors may lead them to revisit the blog, to recommend it, or to give preference to the blog above all others. This study analyzes the role of different variables in building trust and commitment in online environments. In order to do so, it extends the behavior of the relationship quality model to the realm of political blogs, including two additional variables that can have an effect on building trust and commitment: attachment and distrust. After applying the model to a sample of political representatives operating at a local level in Spain, we were able to confirm the behavior of relationship quality, observing that satisfaction and commitment are both related directly to and mediated by trust. We were also able to confirm the significant impact of attachment on satisfaction and commitment, whereas we found no significant relationship between attachment and trust or between distrust and commitment. To further expand our knowledge of the variables included in the model, we also analyzed the relationships between trusting beliefs and the components of self-determination theory as antecedents of trust, distrust, and attachment.

A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Electronic Government Adoption in Spain and the USA

Electronic Government (e-government) is growing in popularity across the globe. Given the increasing relevance of electronic services in the public sector, there is a need for a global agreement on a consistent framework for assessing e-government. This study uses a cross-cultural comparison to assess the fundamentals of e-government adoption in the United States (USA) and Spain. In particular, the authors explore the effects of perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, compatibility and trust on intentions to use e-government services. A survey was administered to citizens in both countries to test the hypotheses derived from adoption literature and Hofstedes dimensions of culture. Results indicate that there are differences in the relationship between compatibility and use intention, with stronger effects in the USA sample. Furthermore, while perceived ease of use significantly impacts intentions for the USA sample, it does not for the Spain sample; and, while trust is not significant in the USA sample, it is for the Spain sample. The implications of these results, mostly consistent with the hypotheses as suggested by the dimensions of culture, are discussed for both research and practice.

Market delimitation, firm survival and growth in service industries

This article focuses on the effect of both firm survival and market delimitation on stochastic growth behaviour in the realm of service industries. Two samples of firms were selected for the study, one of them representing the surviving firm population in the tourism industry and the other one representing the firm total. The activity of firms was used for measuring the influence of market delimitation. Stochastic growth behaviour is found to hold for the sector as a whole, whereas it does not do so for the population of surviving firms. Market delimitation is also observed to influence growth behaviour, but only when combined with firm survival.

Research note: relationship versus transactional marketing in travel and tourism trade shows.

The hypothetical mix of relationship marketing and transactional marketing perspectives is a major theme in the general literature that should be researched in relation to tourism and travel shows. This issue is addressed in the present paper which analyses the effect of managing relationships among three partners (trade organizer, exhibitor and end customer) on the exhibitors performance during the fair, and comparing that effect with the influence of transactional marketing management, in which business performance depends on conventional tools. The results point to an overbalance on the side of transactional marketing in the case of tourism and travel exhibitors. By contrast, in the case of the business-to-business relationship between trade show organizers and exhibitors, the weight of relationship marketing seems to be comparatively higher and, most relevant, to affect the exhibitors performance in terms of their business with end customers during the show.

Transparency policy and students’ satisfaction and trust

Purpose – This paper aims to analyse the effectiveness of the transparency policy carried out by a public university in terms of the impact on students’ satisfaction and trust. The loss of trust suffered by public institutions means that they are trying to identify the existing formulae so that this can be restored, and this includes transparency. In universities, certain changes in their situation mean that the demand for transparency policies is even greater. Design/methodology/approach – To carry out the transparency survey, data were collected using 6,180 valid questionnaires among the degree, postgraduate and continuing education students of the UNED. The statistical behaviour of the constructs included in the model was analysed by developing the structural equation model with SmartPLS. Findings – The results of this research show that transparency does have both a direct effect on trust and an indirect effect that is mediated by satisfaction. This latter indirect effect comes out stronger than the d...

Social Media Use and Perception of Transparency in the Generation of Trust in Public Services

Public institutions are among the key agents involved in the great social and economic debate regarding satisfaction, trust and transparency. For self-funded public organizations, such as certain higher education institutions, changes in their situation (greater competition and pressure from stakeholders) have meant that the demand for transparency policies is even greater than in other types of public institution. While transparency has been observed to play a role in the generation of satisfaction and trust, the existence of disparate results in the research into this relationship has given rise to the need to analyse the role played by variables moderating this role. This paper incorporates the role of the social media (Twitter and Facebook) used to access information from an organization which, in turn, acts as an intermediary for the delivery of services by another public institution. The results indicate that while the use of Twitter does not moderate the relationship between transparency, trust and satisfaction, the frequency of Facebook use does moderate the relationship between trust and the two antecedents referred to in the model: transparency and satisfaction.

Social Network Sites as a Moderating Factor in E-Learning Platform Adoption: An Extension

The use of Social Network Sites (SNS), and the improvements gained from new technologies through e-learning platforms are two of the main topics that are currently discussed in the area of higher education. Acquiring a better understanding of e-Learning platform adoption requires the addition of new antecedents to prevailing models and an analysis of their interrelations with other information and communication technologies. Web 2.0 and SNS are of particular significance in this connection. This paper attempts to determine the validity of the antecedents posited by Chan et al. (2010) in the field of e-Learning and the moderating role that SNS use may play in platform adoption. The influence of awareness, self-efficacy, convenience and assistance as antecedents of the components of the adoption model is determined; it is further found that SNS use has a moderating effect on the relationship between the intention to use the platform and its posited antecedents.