Tianyu Ying

Exploring the Theoretical Framework of Emotional Solidarity between Residents and Tourists

Residents and tourists within destinations are often portrayed as being separate from each other, possessing little in common. Such an approach can undermine the potential for a dynamic, intimate relationship to exist between residents and tourists. This research offers the theory of emotional solidarity, put forth by Emile Durkheim, as a theoretical framework to examine the relationship between residents and tourists. In addition, a series of focus groups with residents of a coastal South Carolina county was conducted to ascertain residents’ feelings about tourists and commonalities with tourists (i.e., shared beliefs, shared behavior, and interaction). Themes corresponding to constructs from Durkheim’s model were generated from the qualitative data analysis. Findings are discussed, along with practical implications and future research options.

Knowledge Linkage: A Social Network Analysis of Tourism Dissertation Subjects

Research subjects are indicative of problem areas amongst which knowledge traffic occurs and networks form in a scientific community. This article presents a social network analysis of tourism dissertation subjects based on ProQuest Dissertations and Theses–Full Text database (1994-2008). The study suggests an openness and vibrancy of tourism as a domain of knowledge from a social network perspective. Longitudinal examinations revealed a structural change in its knowledge development. Twenty-one subjects were identified as subdomains in this dynamic and interconnected knowledge system. The article also discusses the relationships between subject areas and doctoral program distributions for tourism research at North American institutions. Results of the study contribute to discussions on scientific community and knowledge networks in interdisciplinary tourism studies.

Online Networking in the Tourism Industry A Webometrics and Hyperlink Network Analysis

Despite the abundance of research in information technology and tourism, limited is known about online communication and networking in the tourism industry. Researchers have examined the overall structure of online destination network, but further investigation is needed to understand the networking patterns of different tourism stakeholders in cyberspace. This study constructed and analyzed a hyperlink network of 745 tourism stakeholders in Charleston, South Carolina. Link impact analysis, hyperlink network analysis, and statistical methods were employed for exploring the structural characteristics of the online networks among tourism stakeholders and their networking behaviors on the Web. The results revealed a sparse online network within the tourism industry of a destination, and suggested that tourism stakeholders’ online networking behaviors vary across sectors. The findings also confirmed destination marketing organizations’ central position in online tourism network, and validated the use of hyperlink network as an alternative and promising data source for destination network research.

Networks, citizenship behaviours and destination effectiveness: a comparative study of two Chinese rural tourism destinations

While community-based rural tourism has experienced rapid growth in China in recent years, little is known about the social mechanisms underlying the behaviours of tourism operators regarding common destination interests. Comparing two Chinese rural tourism cases, this study investigates four types of networks among local tourism operators and explores how the network structures in destinations are related to the community citizenship behaviours of tourism operators and other tourism-involved residents. The study also examines the effects of community citizenship behaviours on destination effectiveness in rural tourism development and management. The findings highlight the possibility that network structures among tourism operators could critically influence their community citizenship behaviours, which contribute to destination effectiveness. This study contributes both empirically and methodologically to the field of social network analysis in tourism, within the specific context of rural communities in China.

Personality Effects on the Social Network Structure of Boundary-Spanning Personnel in the Tourism Industry:

Tourism businesses participate in network relationships with others to obtain resources that are unavailable within. Due to the socially embedded nature of interorganizational relationships, the social networks of the boundary-spanning personnel in tourism businesses are believed to have a profound influence on the formation and structure of their networks at the organizational level. Understanding the boundary-spanning personnel’s social network, particularly in a professional context, may facilitate tourism businesses in their human resources strategies and further benefit their business network development and maintenance. Using the Big-Five personality construct, this study investigated the personality effects on the tourism boundary-spanning personnel’s social network diversity and tie strength in a professional setting. The study revealed the connections between different aspects of individuals’ social networks and their personality traits. The findings indicated that, with different business networking needs or being at different network development stages, tourism businesses may need to look for employees with different personalities to undertake the corresponding networking tasks.

The Evolution of eTourism Research: A Case of ENTER Conference

Using bibliometric analysis approaches this study aims to extend the existing literature about the evolution, structure and spectrum of eTourism research by analysing the major themes and trends of the papers published in the ENTER conference proceedings from 1994 to 2014. Analysing the subjects and research themes of 972 research papers published in this series, the authors propose a structural model for the categorisation of eTourism research. Through a longitudinal observation of the frequently addressed research subjects and technologies, this paper reveals four different phases of the evolution of eTourism research on applying information and communication technologies in tourism. This study contributes to the better understanding of the different stages of the evolution of eTourism research and its future trend.

Language facilitation for outbound Chinese tourists: importance–performance and gap analyses of New Zealand hotels

ABSTRACT Language barriers can negatively affect Chinese outbound tourists’ overseas travel experiences, highlighting the significance of language facilitation during overseas traveling. With survey data of 256 Chinese guests in two New Zealand upscale hotels, this study performed importance–performance and gap analyses on 19 language facilitation attributes. Results revealed that when resources are limited, priority should be given to improving Chinese language facilitation in room safety and security, in-room entertainment, and tourism information. Furthermore, this study reveals that the relationship between tourists’ perceived language barrier and hotel-stay satisfaction varies across socio-demographic characteristic, English language proficiency, and preferences for accommodation standards.

Examining the efficacy of self-classification approach in segmenting special-interest tourists: food tourism case

ABSTRACT Self-classification is used as an a priori approach to tourist typology and market segmentation. However, skepticism still surrounds its ability to incorporate the multidimensionality of tourist behavior. This study seeks to empirically verify the efficacy of a single-item self-classification approach. The robustness of this self-classification measure is examined by comparing it to a data-driven multidimensional psychographic approach in terms of its ability to predict the behaviors of tourists toward food-related destination consumption. Results suggest that the single-item self-classification approach performs equally well as the psychographic approach in segmenting food-related consumption behaviors. The implications and limitations of this study are also discussed.