WooMi Jo Phillips

Hospitality and Tourism Research Rankings by Author, University, and Country Using Six Major Journals The First Decade of the New Millennium

This study reports productivity of authors, universities, and countries using research contributions to top hospitality and tourism journals. Since the new millennium, hospitality and tourism research has seen tremendous expansion and diversification. To understand hospitality and tourism research in the first decade of the new millennium, this study examined articles published in the six most commonly cited hospitality and tourism journals: Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, International Journal of Hospitality Management, Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, Tourism Management, Annals of Tourism Research, and Journal of Travel Research. To provide more insight, this study classified and analyzed articles from the selected journals into various research agendas. A total of 2,834 research articles in these journals from 2000 to 2009 revealed the 50 most prolific authors and universities and the 20 countries of residence of these authors and institutions in the field of hospitality and tourism. In addition, overall productivity rankings for 100 hospitality and tourism authors and universities and 30 countries are presented. The results of this study provide valuable and detailed information for academic stakeholders such as current and prospect graduate students, faculty, and academic administrators.

Destination Image and Visit Intention: Examining the Moderating Role of Motivation

Destination image for a specific destination and travel motivation provide important information for understanding tourist behaviors and behavioral intentions. This study examined the influences of cognitive and affective destination images on tourist visit intention. It also attempted to identify the moderating role of tourist motivation within the image and intention context, investigating whether the extent of the image effects on visit intention varies depending on the level of tourist motivation. To achieve the objectives, this study used hierarchical regressions. The results confirmed that both cognitive and affective destination images have significant influence on tourist visit intention. The findings also indicated that tourist motivation plays as a partial moderator only on the relationship between affective image (arousing) and visit intention, whereas motivation has no moderating role in the relationship between cognitive image and visit intention.

Using Hotel Supervisors’ Emotional Intelligence as a Benchmark for Hospitality Students

Soft skills, or interpersonal skills, are the hallmark skills of those who serve in the hospitality industry. Although it can be difficult to quantify such skills, one construct that can be measured and is inclusive of such skills is that of emotional intelligence (EI). EI is the ability to perceive and understand emotions of individuals and utilize this information to guide one’s actions. This study set out to determine the EI levels of hospitality students and to benchmark their scores against those of hotel supervisors. Data were collected from more than 500 individuals using the Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory. Comparisons were made between and among entry-level and capstone students, hospitality management (HM) and non-HM majors, as well as the industry professionals. Results indicated that the HM students were similar to the supervisors in terms of interpersonal skills, but they scored lower in problem-solving abilities. HM majors scored higher on the empathy scale than non-HM majors. Some implications and curriculum recommendations are provided.

Conspicuous Consumption Applied to Tourism Destination

ABSTRACT This empirical study applied the marketing concept of conspicuous consumption (CC) to tourism destinations. First, six conspicuous (Las Vegas, New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, Washington, DC, and Boston) and inconspicuous destinations (Kansas City, Branson, St. Paul, Omaha, Fargo, and Boise) destinations were identified. In all, 17 conspicuous consumption measurement items were adapted from a previous study and were loaded onto four factors: interpersonal mediation, status demonstration, materialistic hedonism, and communication of belonging. Three out of the four factors had significant relationships with intentions to visit conspicuous destinations. Study implications and suggestions for future research are also discussed.

Exploring seniors' casino gaming intention.

To better understand seniors’ intentions in visiting casinos, this study proposed an extension of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) with casino gaming motivation. The results of this study suggest that among motivations for seniors to visit casinos, winning and enjoyment directly and positively affected behavioral intentions, and all predictable variables of TPB positively affected seniors’ casino visiting intentions. Contrary to our expectations, past casino visits did not have a moderating effect on the relationships between the major TPB variables (attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control) casino motivation and behavioral intentions. The overall study results suggest that the proposed extended model is a useful tool for explaining seniors’ casino visiting intentions. Some theoretical and practical implications for casino operations are also discussed.

Senior casino gaming motivation: measurement scale development.

Casino gaming is an emerging leisure activity for the senior population. Finding out what motivates older adults to spend time in casino gaming is fundamental to determining their future casino patronage intention. This study has explored a comprehensive inventory of senior casino gaming motivations and then generated a scale development procedure to find five distinctive senior casino gaming motivation dimensions: winning and thrill, socialization, escape, enjoyment, and curiosity. Ultimately, confirmatory factor estimates supported model unidimensionality, reliability, and validity while the measurement scale was parsimonious and captured various dimensions of senior casino gaming motivation.

Examining Social Networking Sites as a Survey Distribution Channel for Hospitality and Tourism Research

As businesses use social networking sites (SNS) to connect with consumers, SNS can be viewed as another way to collect users’ information. Since many consumers spend significant amounts of time connecting with others on SNS, it would be a suitable channel to gather information from the captured audience. This study compares survey responses from the traditional paper-and-pencil survey and online survey collected through an SNS recruitment method. The test results showed that there are no statistically significant differences in model fits from the two data collection methods. Thus, this study concludes that SNS holds great potential to serve as a survey distribution channel for collecting meaningful data. More in-depth empirical studies are needed to validate the method before using it for a wider range of research.