Tomaž Kolar

Conceptualizing tourist satisfaction at the destination level.

Purpose – The purpose of the research is to conceptualize a model of tourist satisfaction at the destination level which can serve as a background for designing a universal, parsimonious, short and easily applicable measurement instrument.Design/methodology/approach – The conceptual model was developed on the basis of existing theoretical and empirical research in the fields of marketing and tourism.Findings – The model includes eight latent constructs, with tourist satisfaction being the central one. The analysis of the antecedents (quality, image, value, and costs and risks) of customer satisfaction provides insights into the processes underlying the creation of satisfaction, while the outcome constructs (complaint behavior and loyalty) indicate the consequences of (dis)satisfaction.Research limitations/implications – Designing a parsimonious and easily applicable measurement instrument imposes some limitations with respect to the number of constructs and measured variables included. The inclusion of ad...

Benchmarking market orientation of banks in transitional markets

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the market orientation of Slovenian banks in order to identify critical areas as well as potential barriers to market orientation. In addition, it is expected that use of an adapted methodological approach will improve relevance of managerial implications.Design/methodology/approach – A modified questionnaire for assessment of market orientation in the banking context is introduced, including a market culture dimension and focusing on manifest organizational activities. Market orientation was assessed on samples of Slovenian and European banks, comparing the gaps between the two, using a benchmarking principle.Findings – The results confirm the expected lack of market orientation in Slovenian banks. The lag of Slovenian banks is significant for dimensions of marketing intelligence generation and intelligence dissemination, while it is insignificant on responsiveness and marketing culture dimensions. The results also show that Slovenian banks are weaker at...

What respondents really expect from researchers.

This article addresses the issue of falling response rates in telephone surveys. To better understand and maintain respondent goodwill, concepts of psychological contract and respondent expectations are introduced and explored. Results of the qualitative study show that respondent expectations are not only socially contingent but also ego-expressive, utilitarian, pleasurable, and epistemic by nature. Although results are reassuring in terms of commercialization of the psychological contract, they indicate some radical changes that are needed for the respondents to accept its continuation. The article discusses several practical and theoretical implications of such changes and suggests a series of corresponding propositions aimed at facilitating and inspiring future developments in this field.

Marketing as warfare, revisited

Purpose – This paper aims to encourage thinking beyond the limits of obsolete and superficial “warfare marketing” by exploring potentially useful lessons from modern military intelligence and strategy for marketing intelligence and planning.Design/methodology/approach – Key contemporary trends and approaches to strategy are identified in the literature, and used as the basis for discussion of the possibility of productive knowledge transfer between the two fields.Findings – Comparisons of the conventional (linear, rationalistic, analytical) planning approach with unconventional modern approaches (flexible, technological, voluntary and context‐based) suggest some advanced implications for the planning of marketing strategy.Practical implications – The rethinking of some underlying strategic assumptions is suggested, and the implications discussed within each of the four areas of a proposed framework: marketing doctrine and structures, intelligence and effectiveness, soft resources, and the process of strat...

Multigroup validation of the service quality, customer satisfaction and performance links in higher education

ABSTRACT The notion of ‘students as customers’ continues to be prominent, yet is insufficiently explored, especially from the standpoint of various stakeholders. To address this inadequacy, the present study employs a multigroup analysis of the service profit chain (SPC) model in higher education (HE). Its purpose is to examine the complete SPC model regarding stakeholder perceptions in order to inform its validation and implementation. A cross-sectional survey was employed in order to enable multigroup comparison of a comprehensive research model on subsamples of employees and students by means of structural equation modeling (SEM). Results provide support for the proposed SPC model within the sample of vocational colleges. Besides strongly linked constructs (quality–satisfaction–loyalty), some notable weaknesses (cracked ‘satisfaction mirror’) are found. Multigroup analysis also indicates some important differences between employees and students. Implications are provided for strategic service management in HE, which should acknowledge the differences among stakeholder perceptions.

Traumatized Economies – and Marketing Paths to Recovery

Over the course of the past three decades we have witnessed a number of shocks that have profoundly traumatized a large number of economies and the consumers who often continue to struggle in them. Several trauma-producing events immediately come to mind: the demise of communism and ensuing “shock therapy”, war and genocide, tsunamis, earthquakes, global financial collapse, food shortage, festering religious and ethnic tensions, and the growing conflict between local traditions and burgeoning forces of globalization. One or more of these events has/have devastated many nations, traumatized economies, globally, regionally, nationally and locally, and have distressed billions of consumers.

The effect of general consumer attitudes and personality traits on attitudes towards domestic and multinational products in the Balkan region

This study examines consumer attitudes toward products of multinational and domestic companies in the Balkan region. In four ex-Yugoslav countries, various variables (general consumption attitudes, personality traits, and demography) were compared and analyzed as determinants of consumer attitudes towards domestic and multinational products. The data for the analysis was derived from a representative sample of 7450 Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, and Bosnian consumers by means of a syndicated field survey (PGM-Valicon 2008). The results in general do not support the assumption that regions are homogeneous in terms of consumer attitudes. The key findings at the regional level indicate that attitudes towards domestic products are driven by a different set of predictors than are attitudes towards products of multinational companies (MNC).

Exploring combined tourist offerings: the case of sightrunning

This study provides preliminary empirical insight into the contemporary tourist phenomenon of sightrunning. This combined offering simultaneously concurs with and evades theoretical perspectives of hybrid tourists, sport tourism, cultural tourism and urban tourism, favouring examination of such phenomena through first-hand experiences of the participants. For the purpose of the empirical study, automated content analysis was applied in order to analyse 858 reviews of sightrunning tours extracted from Tripadvisor web pages. Results reveal that running is the dominant concept, which refers to a gratifying ‘way to see and experience the city’ (rather than the sights). Additional concepts and themes, such as knowledgeable guides and proper pace, further mediate and effect participant experiences. Findings suggest that sport tourists might be concurrently interested in involving cultural experiences, and this offers some preliminary theoretical and managerial implications. They namely identify the potentially neglected tourist segment, which is of relevance for conceptualization, research and management of tourist offerings and experiences from (and beyond) the perspective of ‘running shoes’.