Sunmee Choi

The Role of Disclosure in Variable Hotel Pricing A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Customers’ Fairness Perceptions

An exploration of cross-cultural differences in customers’ fairness perceptions of hotel room pricing found that increasing the level of information improved fairness perceptions for respondents in both the United States and Korea. Overall, U.S. consumers seem to perceive variable pricing practices as more fair than do their Korean counterparts. The extent of pricing information offered appears to have a diverse influence across the two culture groups. While only full information had a positive effect on American consumers’ fairness perceptions (i.e., what factors affected room rates and how those factors operate), limited information (i.e., just the knowledge that room rates vary and what factors affected room rates) was sufficient to improve fairness perceptions among Korean consumers. These findings have significant managerial implications for global hotel operators practicing revenue management across the two continents.

Impact of information on customer fairness perceptions of hotel revenue management.

Despite the prospective benefits of a revenue management (RM) program, some hotel managers remain concerned that customers perceive RM as being unfair. Studies have shown that offering customers information on a hotel’s pricing practices can enhance their perceptions of fairness. To determine how much and what type of information hotels should provide in this context, researchers administered a scenario-based survey to 120 travelers. The study found that giving would-be guests relatively complete information about how a hotel’s RM policies operate increases their perception of RM’s fairness. The study found that merely letting travelers know that the hotel’s rates vary was not enough to improve customers’ perceptions of fairness (even with a favorable rate). When respondents were also told that rates varied according to day of the week (with weekend rates being lower), length of stay, and how far in advance the reservation was made, their perceptions of fairness improved significantly.

Fasting-induced increases of arcuate NPY mRNA and plasma corticosterone are blunted in the rat experienced neonatal maternal separation

This study was conducted to examine the effects of neonatal maternal separation on the hypothalamic expression of feeding peptides in later life. Pups in maternal separation (MS) groups were separated from their dam for 3 h daily from postnatal day (PND) 1-14, while pups in non-handled (NH) groups were left undisturbed. Rats were sacrificed on PND 60 to examine the gene expression of neuropeptide Y (NPY) and pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) in the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus by mRNA in situ hybridization. Half of the rats from each group were food-deprived for 48 h before sacrifice. POMC mRNA expression increased in the free fed MS group compared with the free fed NH group. Food deprivation significantly decreased the arcuate POMC mRNA level in both groups. Body weight gain, basal levels of plasma corticosterone, leptin, and arcuate NPY mRNA were not modulated by experience of neonatal maternal separation. However, fasting-induced increases of plasma corticosterone and arcuate NPY expression were blunted in MS rats. These results suggest that neonatal maternal separation may increase the basal expression level of arcuate POMC mRNA, while inhibit the fasting-induced expression of arcuate NPY mRNA, later in life. Lastly, the altered expression of arcuate NPY mRNA, but not of arcuate POMC mRNA, appeared to be related with altered activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal gland axis in offspring by neonatal maternal separation.

The impact of hotel pricing policies on perceived fairness and satisfaction with the reservation process.

ABSTRACT This study examines the impact of offering differential pricing policy information on customer perceptions of fairness and their satisfaction with the reservation process. More specifically, we want to investigate whether offering information on the hotels pricing policies would influence guest perceptions. In addition, we sought to understand how comparison outcome (better/worse/same) and comparison standard (internal/social comparison) mitigate the positive effects of information availability. Two hundred and forty travelers waiting for their planes at an airport in the Washington DC area served as subjects. Our results indicate that both information availability and comparison outcome influenced perceived fairness ratings. Moreover, the three factors (comparison outcome, comparison standard and information availability) jointly determined overall satisfaction with the reservation process.

A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Middle-Class Meanings of Money in India and South Korea: An Abstract

Little research exists that qualitatively and systematically examines the rich symbolic meanings of money across cultures. To what extent are symbolic money meanings universal? What roles do economic development and sociocultural differences play in shaping the symbolic meanings and attitudes associated with money? Prior research in the USA documents the interaction between societal changes, money meanings, and family dynamics and demonstrates that economic changes impact attitudes about money (Commuri & Gentry, 2005; Zeiler, 1989). This study builds on this research by examining differences in symbolic money meanings across two nations, India and Korea, at different stages of economic development. Qualitative analysis documents, assesses, and contrasts the rich, symbolic meanings of money for middle-class individuals in these nations.

Societal Norms, Need for Closure, and Service Recovery

ABSTRACT There is an increasing need for an understanding of how culture shapes consumers’ service encounter evaluations. This study introduces a new aspect of culture (societal tightness or looseness) to the global marketing literature. In addition, the authors examine the role of a novel individual-level factor (Need for Closure) in influencing fairness judgments. Findings of this quasi-experimental study suggest that consumers faced with strict societal norms have more negative reactions to socially deviant employee behaviors than their counterparts in looser societies. Moreover, high Need-for-Closure individuals perceived equal compensation as more fair than either under- or overcompensation vis-à-vis other customers. The article concludes with a discussion of managerial implications for global service providers.