Sandy C. Chen

Residents' Perceptions of the Impact of Major Annual Tourism Events in Macao: Cluster Analysis

This study examines how local residents perceive major tourism events in Macao, China. A cluster analysis revealed three clusters of residents with distinct views toward these events. Although the similarities of the major findings to those in previous studies are apparent, this study extends the others by identifying a new factor regarding the impact of events on a community. Also, unlike other studies that have focused on a single event, this study looked at a set of major events, thereby providing decision makers a more complete view of event tourism in a community.

Construction and Validation of the Customer Participation Scale

Although the importance of a mandatory customer participation construct in service delivery has been much discussed in the literature, little research has been devoted to conceptualizing and measuring one. To fill this void, this study followed a seven-step process for creating and analyzing scales in order to develop a customer participation scale and evaluate its generalizability, reliability, and validity. In theoretical terms, this scale extends the service quality literature, which has heavily emphasized the service provider’s responsibility for service quality, and will facilitate further studies in customer participation. In practical terms, the scale provides practitioners with useful mechanisms that could enhance their interactions with customers through facilitating the latter’s mandatory role in service delivery.

Segmenting slot machine players: a factor-cluster analysis.

Purpose – Slot machines and other machine gaming generate between 65 percent and 90 percent of a US casinos revenue. This article aims to examine the motivations, behaviors, and preferences of slot machine customers, and to develop market segments.Design/methodology/approach – The studys objectives include: understanding the demographic, gambling motivation, and gambling behavioral characteristics of slot machine players; identifying important reasons for choosing one slot machine game over another; examining player attitudes and behaviors pertaining to progressive machines; and investigating player desire for theme‐based games. This was accomplished through an online survey of slot machine players.Findings – Profiles of slot machine players are developed and the slot players are segmented into four clusters that explain motivations and game preferences.Practical implications – This article fills in some of the gaps in understanding the gambling behavior of slot players. This study can help gaming machi...

An Investigation of the Demographic, Psychological, Psychographic, and Behavioral Characteristics of Chinese Senior Leisure Travelers

This study was designed to investigate those variables that would provide a fuller description as well as a segmentation of the views of Chinese senior leisure travelers from the Peoples Republic of China. The empirical data of this study suggest that Chinese seniors comprise a collection of submarkets based on travel frequency, each with its own characteristics with respect to demographic variables, reasons or motivations for leisure travel, attitudes toward leisure travel, perceived barriers preventing them from taking leisure trips, activities they do during a leisure trip, criteria used to select a travel destination, and the use of the Internet in their travel behavior. The findings of this study provide a foundation for a variety of marketing strategies aimed at the market for Chinese senior leisure travel as well as for cross-cultural comparisons. This study thus makes significant contributions to senior tourism by extending our understanding of senior travel behavior in an important, emerging market; it is also hoped that the study will provoke more discussion on senior leisure travel in developing countries as well as cross-cultural comparisons between developing and developed regions.

Segmenting customers by participation

Purpose This study aims to report the results of a survey of diners’ behavior during production and consumption of dining services with three objectives. The first objective is to create customer segments that represent distinct patterns of customer participation in hospitality service encounters. The second objective is to profile these identified customer segments in terms of demographics, attitudes and behaviors. The third objective is to evaluate the relationship between customer participation segments and service outcomes. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected through an online survey of American casual dining customers. The data were analyzed using principal components factor analysis, cluster analysis on the factor scores, discriminant analysis that validated the group differences among clusters and multivariate analysis of variance on the cluster variables to determine the source of differences between groups. Findings The evidence showed that restaurant customers can be segmented into meaningful groups according to their reported behaviors and that level of participation is related to perceived service outcomes. Practical implications The findings suggest that service providers can use customer participation segments to understand those customers’ service needs and wants. They can then design service strategies tailored to the needs of target customer groups. Originality/value This study is the first to identify distinct segments based on hospitality customers’ roles and behaviors in service delivery. This study makes a significant contribution to the hospitality marketing literature by advancing the trend to improve service quality through a non-traditional approach, that is, by building partnerships with customers.

Segmenting customers by participation: An innovative path to service excellence

Purpose This study aims to report the results of a survey of diners’ behavior during production and consumption of dining services with three objectives. The first objective is to create customer segments that represent distinct patterns of customer participation in hospitality service encounters. The second objective is to profile these identified customer segments in terms of demographics, attitudes and behaviors. The third objective is to evaluate the relationship between customer participation segments and service outcomes. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected through an online survey of American casual dining customers. The data were analyzed using principal components factor analysis, cluster analysis on the factor scores, discriminant analysis that validated the group differences among clusters and multivariate analysis of variance on the cluster variables to determine the source of differences between groups. Findings The evidence showed that restaurant customers can be segmented into meaningful groups according to their reported behaviors and that level of participation is related to perceived service outcomes. Practical implications The findings suggest that service providers can use customer participation segments to understand those customers’ service needs and wants. They can then design service strategies tailored to the needs of target customer groups. Originality/value This study is the first to identify distinct segments based on hospitality customers’ roles and behaviors in service delivery. This study makes a significant contribution to the hospitality marketing literature by advancing the trend to improve service quality through a non-traditional approach, that is, by building partnerships with customers.

The characteristics and travel behaviors of senior leisure travelers: a cross-cultural comparison between China and the US.

The study compared senior leisure travelers residing in two distinct cultures, Chinese and American, with respect to travel psychology and behavior. Using two datasets collected through survey questionnaires in China and the US by different methods, the author conducted t-tests of independent samples on the variables of travel motivations, attitudes, destination selection, activities, and perceived barriers. The empirical results indicated that senior leisure travelers in China differed significantly from those in the US, although both groups did share some characteristics in common. These findings have implications for tourism marketers in both China and the US. Also, this study appears to be the first to compare empirically Chinese senior travelers with their counterparts in the US, thereby highlighting the need for more cross-cultural research in senior tourism.