Advances in Hospitality and Leisure, Volume 5

ADVANCES IN HOSPITALITY AND LEISURE ADVANCES IN HOSPITALITY AND LEISURE Series Editor: Joseph S. Chen Recent Volumes:...

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ADVANCES IN HOSPITALITY AND LEISURE

ADVANCES IN HOSPITALITY AND LEISURE Series Editor: Joseph S. Chen Recent Volumes: Volume 1: Volume 2: Volume 3: Volume 4:

Advances in Hospitality and Leisure, edited by Joseph S. Chen Advances in Hospitality and Leisure, edited by Joseph S. Chen Advances in Hospitality and Leisure, edited by Joseph S. Chen Advances in Hospitality and Leisure, edited by Joseph S. Chen

ADVANCES IN HOSPITALITY AND LEISURE VOLUME 5

ADVANCES IN HOSPITALITY AND LEISURE EDITED BY

JOSEPH S. CHEN Indiana University, Bloomington, USA

United Kingdom – North America – Japan India – Malaysia – China

JAI Press is an imprint of Emerald Group Publishing Limited Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK First edition 2009 Copyright r 2009 Emerald Group Publishing Limited Reprints and permission service Contact: [email protected] No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without either the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying issued in the UK by The Copyright Licensing Agency and in the USA by The Copyright Clearance Center. No responsibility is accepted for the accuracy of information contained in the text, illustrations or advertisements. The opinions expressed in these chapters are not necessarily those of the Editor or the publisher. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: 978-1-84855-674-4 ISSN: 1745-3542 (Series)

Awarded in recognition of Emerald’s production department’s adherence to quality systems and processes when preparing scholarly journals for print

CONTENTS LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS

vii

AIMS AND SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

xi

EDITORIAL BOARD

xiii FULL PAPERS

PREDICTORS OF SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION IN A TOURISM CONTEXT: A CHAID APPROACH Mehmet Mehmetoglu THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN LEISURE BEHAVIORS AND LIFE SATISFACTION OF FOREIGN LABORS IN TAIWAN – THE CASE OF THAI LABORS Tzuhui A. Tseng, David Y. Chang and Ching-Cheng Shen PERCEPTIONS OF JOB AND HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY CHARACTERISTICS ON CAREER DECISIONS Arjan van Rheede, Debbie Tromp and Robert J. Blomme RECREATION CONFLICT OF PARTICIPANTS IN DIFFERENT MODE OF WATER-BASED ACTIVITIES AND THEIR ADOPTION CHOICE Chung-Chi Wu, Ching-Tang James Wang, Hsiou-Hsiang Jack Liu and Wei-Ching Wang v

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CONTENTS

BEST PRACTICES IN SUSTAINABILITY: GERMAN AND ESTONIAN HOTELS Philip Sloan, Willy Legrand, Heli Tooman and Joachim Fendt

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HEALTH-CARE TOURISM IN SINGAPORE Tak-Kee Hui and David Wan

109

INVESTIGATING THE DIFFERENCES IN CORPORATE GOVERNANCE BETWEEN HOSPITALITY AND NONHOSPITALITY FIRMS Seonghee Oak and Raghavan J. Iyengar

125

COMPARISON OF HOSPITALITY PRACTITIONERS AND STUDENT/PRACTITIONER WORK VALUES Po-Ju Chen and Dana V. Tesone

141

DEVELOPING A FOOD AND WINE SEGMENTATION AND CLASSIFYING DESTINATIONS ON THE BASIS OF THEIR FOOD AND WINE SECTORS Michelle Thompson and Bruce Prideaux

163

TRIP PATTERNS OF GERMAN TOURISTS: A CASE OF MAJORCA, SPAIN Helmut Wachowiak

185

RESEARCH NOTES AN IMPORTANCE–PERFORMANCE MODEL OF RESTAURANT DINING EXPERIENCE Meng-Lei Monica Hu, Ting-Kuo Chen and Tsung-Lin Ou

207

HOTEL OFFER ADJUSTMENTS FOR SENIOR CITIZEN GUESTS: PERCEPTION OF SWISS HOTELIERS Andrew Mungall and Thouraya Gherissi Labben

223

SUBJECT INDEX

241

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS Robert J. Blomme

Hotelschool The Hague, The Hague, The Netherlands

David Y. Chang

School of Hotel and Restaurant Management, University of South Florida, Sarasota, FL, USA

Po-Ju Chen

Department of Hospitality Services, Rosen College of Hospitality Management, University of Central Florida, FL, USA

Ting-Kuo Chen

Department of Tourism Management, Jinwen University Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan

Joachim Fendt

International University of Applied Sciences Bad Honnef, Bonn, Bad Honnef, Germany

Thouraya Gherissi Labben

Lausanne Hospitality Research, Ecole hoˆtelie`re de Lausanne, Le Chalet-a`-Gobet, Lausanne, Switzerland

Tak-Kee Hui

Department of Decision Sciences, NUS Business School, National University of Singapore, Singapore

Raghavan J. Iyengar

School of Business, North Carolina Central University, Durham, NC, USA

Willy Legrand

Department of Hospitality Management, International University of Applied Sciences Bad Honnef, Bonn, Bad Honnef, Germany

Hsiou-Hsiang J. Liu

Department of Tourism Management, National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences, Kaohsiung, Taiwan vii

viii

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS

Mehmet Mehmetoglu

Department of Tourism, Lillehammer University College, Lillehammer; Harstad University College, Harstad, Norway

Meng-Lei Monica Hu

Department of Food and Beverage Management, Jinwen University Science and Technology, Hsintein City, Taipei, Taiwan

Andrew Mungall

Lausanne Hospitality Research, Ecole hoˆtelie`re de Lausanne, Le Chalet-a`-Gobet, Lausanne, Switzerland

Seonghee Oak

School of Business, North Carolina Central University, Durham, NC, USA

Tsung-Lin Ou

National Central University, Graduate School of Business Administration, Taipei, Taiwan

Bruce Prideaux

School of Business, James Cook University, Cairns, Australia

Ching-Cheng Shen

The Graduate School of Travel Management, National Kaohsiung Hospitality College, Hsiao-Kang Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Philip Sloan

Department of Hospitality Management, International University of Applied Sciences Bad Honnef, Bonn, Bad Honnef, Germany

Dana V. Tesone

Department of Hospitality Services, Rosen College of Hospitality Management, University of Central Florida, FL, USA

Michelle Thompson

School of Business, James Cook University, Cairns, Australia

Heli Tooman

Pa¨rnu College of the University of Tartu, Pa¨rnu, Estonia

Debbie Tromp

Hotelschool The Hague, The Hague, The Netherlands

List of Contributors

ix

Tzuhui A. Tseng

Department of Regional Studies in Humanity and Social Sciences, National Hsinchu University of Education, Hsinchu, Taiwan

Arjan van Rheede

Hotelschool The Hague, The Hague, The Netherlands

Helmut Wachowiak

Department of Tourism Management, International University of Applied Sciences Bad Honnef, Bonn, Bad Honnef, Germany

David Wan

School of Human Development and Social Services, SIM University, Singapore

Ching-Tang J. Wang

Graduate School of Sport Management, National Taiwan Sport University, Taichung, Taiwan

Wei-Ching Wang

Graduate Institute of Business Administration, National Chiayi University, Chiayi, Taiwan

Chung-Chi Wu

Department of Recreation Sport & Health Promotion, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Neipu, Pingtung, Taiwan

AIMS AND SUBMISSION GUIDELINES Advances in Hospitality and Leisure (AHL), a peer-review publication, aims to promote seminal and innovative research outputs pertaining to hospitality, leisure, tourism, and lifestyle. Speciﬁcally, the series will encourage researchers to investigate new research issues and problems that are critical but have been largely ignored while providing a forum that will disseminate singular thoughts advancing empirical undertakings both theoretically and methodologically. The ﬁfth issue includes 10 full papers and 2 research notes. As for data exploration, 11 studies use either quantitative or qualitative method to collect empirical data while 1 research uses secondary data to make predictions on ﬁrms’ ﬁnancial performance. The contributors to the present issue come from nine nations entailing Australia, Estonia, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United States. For submission to future issues, please review the following guidelines. Originality of Manuscript: The manuscript should represent an original work that has never been published elsewhere nor is being considered for publication elsewhere. Style and Length of Manuscript: 12 pt Times New Roman font; double spacing; APA; 7,000 words (Full Paper) or 4,000 words (Research Note). Layout of Manuscript: First page: title of paper and author information; second page: title of paper, 100–120 word abstract; third page and beyond: main text, appendix, references, ﬁgures, and tables. Text of Manuscript: For literature review articles, please include introduction, critical literature review, problems in past research, and suggestions for future research. For empirical research papers, please include introduction, methods, ﬁndings and discussions, and conclusion. AHL requires electronic submission. Please use an e-mail attachment with Microsoft Word format to the editor Dr. Joseph Chen ([email protected]) or send a diskette to Tourism Management Program, Department of PRTS, HPER Building x133, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA.

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EDITORIAL BOARD EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Joseph S. Chen Indiana University (Bloomington), USA

SENIOR EDITORS Yuksel Ekinci (Europe) Oxford Brookes University, UK

Tzung-Cheng Huan (Asia) National Chiayi University, Taiwan

EDITORIAL REVIEW BOARD North America

Europe

Rachel Chen University of Tennessee, USA

Marcjanna Augustyn University of Hull, UK

Dogen Gursoy Washington State University, USA

Metin Kozak Mugla University, Turkey

Colin Johnson San Jose State University, USA

Fre´de´ric Dimanche European School of Business, France A´lvaro Matias University of Evora, Portugal

Anna Mattila Pennsylvania State University, USA William Norman Clemson University, USA

Nina Prebensen Tromso University, Norway

Haemoon Oh Iowa State University, USA

Marianna Sigala University of Aegean, Greece

H.G. Parsa Ohio State University, USA

Helmut Wachowiak International University of Applied Sciences, Germany

John Williams University of New Orleans, USA xiii

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Asia/Paciﬁc Tak-Kee Hui National University of Singapore, Singapore Bruce Prideaux James Cook University, Australia

EDITORIAL BOARD

FULL PAPERS

PREDICTORS OF SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION IN A TOURISM CONTEXT: A CHAID APPROACH Mehmet Mehmetoglu ABSTRACT This investigation studied a sample of 900 prospective international tourists to Norway with respect to their attitudes towards environmental sustainability on holiday. Sustainability was measured using a single item according to which the sample was ﬁrst divided into highly sustainable tourists and low-sustainable tourists. Later, using a CHAID analysis, predictors of sustainability were identiﬁed. These included gender, nationality, being a nature-based tourist or not, and being interested in authenticity or not. The results showed that people who considered authenticity as important on holiday had a higher probability of being highly sustainable tourists. Further, different segments were identiﬁed. For instance, the segment that had the greatest likelihood of being highly sustainable tourists was represented by German tourists who were highly interested in authenticity on holiday.

Advances in Hospitality and Leisure, Volume 5, 3–23 Copyright r 2009 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1745-3542/doi:10.1108/S1745-3542(2009)0000005005

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INTRODUCTION Despite the emergence of environmental concern as a political movement in the 1960s, the inﬂuence of this political movement on consumption was ﬁrst noticed in the late 1980s (Zimmer, Stafford, & Stafford, 1994). Since then, what some (e.g. Tanner & Kast, 2003) refer to as ‘sustainable consumption’ has accelerated in various domains such as recycling, energy use, ecological food purchase and personal car-use. Although sustainable consumption has been amply researched in different settings, only a few scholars (e.g. Fairweather, Maslin, & Simmons, 2005) have directly examined the same phenomenon in a tourism context. There are, moreover, studies (e.g. Goksen, Adaman, & Zenginobuz, 2002) in the ﬁeld of environmental psychology, implying that people are generally more concerned about environmental problems that are geographically closest to them. Since environmental problems associated with holidaying abroad can be regarded rather as a non-local issue, it is of theoretical value to examine: (a) what percentage of a potential tourist sample is highly concerned about environmental problems associated with holidaying abroad, (b) which factors inﬂuence such an attitude, and ﬁnally (c) who the highly sustainable tourist is.

Environmental Movement The environmental movement among the general public emerged nearly four decades ago. It was based on the principles of ecocentrism (i.e. natural ecosystems possess value in their own right, independent of their value to humans (Bell, Greene, Fisher, & Baum, 2001)) and consequently poses an alternative to the dominant environmental paradigm that is in accordance with anthropocentrism (i.e. an emphasis on the utility of nature for the use of humans as a species (Bell et al., 2001)). Several factors have contributed to this paradigmatic shift (Weaver, 2001): Firstly, the general public has grown more aware of major global environmental problems, such as global warming, ozone depletion, overpopulation. Secondly, publication of high proﬁle environmentally themed books, including the Brundtland report, contributed to extensive media coverage. Thirdly, the media coverage of environmental issues expanded further as a result of some major environmental disasters, such as Chernobyl. Finally, governments responded to increasing public concern by placing environmental issues on the international agenda.

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Although concern for the environment was growing among the general public, little of this concern was translated into individual decision-making. In other words, at the start of the environmental movement, the emphasis was largely on political solutions to environmental and social ills (Roberts, 1996) in that environmental issues were discussed in political speeches and campaigns. Relatedly, several special interest groups (e.g. environmental organisations) have also highlighted the relationship between environmental problems and consumption (Zimmer et al., 1994). This political focus appears also to have inﬂuenced the general public in the direction of sustainable consumer behaviour. Owing to a further emphasis on recent global environmental problems, one can expect sustainable consumption to be a major trend in coming years.

Sustainable Consumption Over the years, green behaviour has become a common trend in different areas that can be mainly divided into two principal domains, namely, usage and disposal (Roozen & De Pelsmacker, 1998). Disposal behaviour refers to some kind of recycling behaviour including participation in newspaper recycling, bottle recycling and can recycling (Roozen & De Pelsmacker, 1998). Usage, on the other hand, includes home insulation, energy curtailment, returnable products, economical driving and so on (Balderjahn, 1988). Sustainable consumption surely belongs to the usage form of green behaviour. Sustainable consumption is consistent with the principles of sustainable development that focus on the environmental dimension. Thus, sustainable consumption is also referred to as environmentally friendly consumption, ecological consumption or green consumerism. Green consumerism is deﬁned as ‘individuals looking to protect themselves and their world through the power of their purchasing decisions. In their efforts to protect themselves and world, they are scrutinising products for environmental safety’ (Ottman, 1992, p. 3). Accordingly, green consumers or ecological consumers can be described as ‘those who purchase products and services which they perceive to have a positive (or less negative) impact on the environment’ (Roberts, 1996, p. 222). According to the Roper studies (as cited in Minton & Rose, 1997, p. 37), green consumers can be classiﬁed into three environmentally active consumer groups and two inactive groups. The ‘true-blue greens’ are the most committed group of environmentally active consumers who have made major changes to their behaviour patterns. The ‘green-back greens’ are

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committed to the environmental movement ﬁnancially and philosophically, but have not changed their behaviour patterns to the same degree as the true-blue greens. The ‘sprouts’ are just starting to change their behaviour in order to become more environmentally friendly. The ‘grousers’ think that companies should solve environmental problems instead of consumers, and the ‘basic browns’ are apathetic and do not believe that their personal efforts will help. In other words, the ﬁrst three consumer groups can, in tandem, be denoted as the green-market segment. The green market has been studied and deﬁned from different perspectives, of which one is its demographic proﬁle. This growing market is generally known to contain more younger, highly educated, higher income, urban and politically liberal individuals (Zimmer et al., 1994). It has also been suggested that females generally engage in more sustainable consumption (Roberts, 1996). Further, scholars have endeavoured to understand sustainable consumption from a psychographic viewpoint. Minton and Rose (1997) found, for instance, that environmentally concerned attitudes and personal norms were signiﬁcant predictors of environmentally friendly consumer behaviour. In a study, Steg, Dreijerink, and Abrahamse (2005) ascertained that personal values were also related to sustainable consumption (i.e. a reduction in household energy consumption).

A Review of Studies on Predictors of Sustainable Consumption As far as sustainable consumption is concerned, one of the earliest works that could have a relevance for the travel and tourism context is that of Chan (1996) who discovered, ﬁrst, that there was a relationship between a sample of supermarket shoppers’ environmentally friendly purchases and their level of environmental concern. Secondly, the author found an association between the sample’s age and education, and environmental concern. In the same study, income did not, however, associate with people’s level of environmental concern. Some of these ﬁndings were later conﬁrmed by another rather more advanced and relevant inquiry conducted by Roberts (1996) who, in addition to environmental concern and socio-demographics, included two other attitudinal variables in his analysis of predictors of ecologically conscious behaviour (i.e. purchase of products with less negative impact/positive impact on the environment) among a nationwide survey of consumers. He found that people’s level of environmental concern, judgement in the ability to affect environmental problems, and liberalism was all positively related to

A CHAID Approach

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ecologically conscious behaviour. With regard to socio-demographics, age was positively correlated and income negatively correlated with ecologically conscious behaviour. Further, it was also discovered that female respondents performed more ecologically conscious behaviour than did male respondents. In a later study (Minton & Rose, 1997) of primary shoppers of a sample of households, additional socio-psychological independent measures were added as well as dependent measures in an attempt to obtain more insight into the phenomenon of environmentally friendly consumer behaviour. The authors’ investigation included both behaviours and behavioural intentions as the dependent measures. Their study showed that people’s environmental attitudes, personal norms and injunctive norms all affected both environmentally friendly consumer behaviour as well as behavioural intentions. In another insightful study, the authors (Lee & Holden, 1999) used, among which, ‘willingness-to-pay’ as the dependent variable representing environmentally conscious behaviour, and a set of attitudinal and ability measures as the independent variables. The results of the study indicated that environmental attitude, personal distress, empathy and faith/trust in others, were all positively associated with willingness to pay for environmentally friendly efforts and initiatives. More speciﬁcally, in a later study, the researchers (Laroche, Bergeon, & Barbaro-Forleo, 2001) segmented people who were willing to pay more for environmentally friendly or green products. The segment was made up of people who indicated that the ecological problems were severe, that companies did not act in a responsible manner towards the environment and that behaving environmentally friendly was important and not inconvenient. They were further collectivist-orientated in terms of personal values, and took ecological issues into consideration when purchasing a product. In a rather recent work, the scholars (Diamantopoulos, Schlegelmilch, Sinkovics, & Bohlen, 2003) thoroughly examined the relationship between socio-demographics (gender, marital status, age, number of children, education and social class) and green-shopping habits. Their ﬁndings suggested that the explanatory power of the socio-demographics, despite their signiﬁcant effects, had started to diminish compared to before in that they explained only about four per cent of the variation in green purchasing habits. Their explanation for this diminishing effect of the sociodemographics was that the environment was no longer a marginal issue. In another recent study, the authors (Fraj & Martinez, 2006) related Values and Lifestyles Scales (VALS) to ecological consumer behaviours. Their ﬁndings indicated that those individuals with an enterprising spirit, and who tried to fulﬁl themselves, presented higher ecological consumer behaviour.

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Sustainable Consumption in Tourism Sustainable tourism is a form of alternative tourism. Although sustainable tourism does not necessarily equate to sustainable development, the former is however utilised as a means to achieve the goals of the latter (Fennell, 2003). This observation is also apparent in the following deﬁnition of sustainable tourism, proposed by the World Tourist Organisation (1995, p. 30 as cited in Miller, 2003): [Sustainable tourism] meets the needs of present tourists and host regions while protecting and enhancing opportunities for the future. It is envisaged as leading to the management of all resources in such a way that economic, social and aesthetic needs can be fulﬁlled while maintaining cultural integrity, essential ecological processes, biological diversity, and life support systems.

As seen in the above deﬁnition, sustainable tourism reﬂects three main principles of sustainable development, namely, ecological sustainability, social and cultural sustainability and economic sustainability (Diamantis & Ladkin, 1999). In addition to these macro goals, an emphasis is also placed on sustainable consumer and marketing considerations of tourism (Fennell, 2003). Pursuing the principles of sustainable tourism, sustainable consumption in tourism or sustainable tourism consumption can be deﬁned as any consumption attitude or behaviour that intends to contribute to ecological, social, cultural and/or economic sustainability in a holiday context. Yet only a few investigations have examined sustainable consumption in tourism. One exception to this generalisation is the study of Dolnicar (2004) that, in fact, operationalised the sustainable tourist. By using an a priori segmentation approach, she divided a sample of 3,575 tourists participating in the Austrian National Guest Survey into two segments: sustainable (2,524) and non-sustainable (1,051). The former represented those who strongly agreed with the statement that ‘on holiday the efforts to maintain unspoiled surroundings play a major role for you’, whereas the latter disagreed with the same statement. Further analysis indicated that sustainable tourists were more likely to spend more money per person per day, stay longer and engage in multiple activities at the destination when compared to their non-sustainable counterparts. Another exception is the study of Miller (2003) that examined a sample of UK tourism consumers along a series of questions related to the green consumerism of day-to-day products and holiday products. The results of this inquiry revealed that about 30 per cent of the respondents always looked for environmental information about their intended destinations.

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A CHAID Approach

A related ﬁnding was the fact that only 15 per cent of the respondents indicated that the environmental information obtained always inﬂuenced their choice of holidays. In a study, the authors (Fairweather et al., 2005) examined the relationship between environmental values (ecocentric and anthropocentric) and attitudes towards the tourism environment. For this purpose, the authors, using a set of environmental values as a basis, clustered a sample of international visitors to New Zealand into two distinct segments: ecocentric and ambivalent. While the former expressed ecocentric attitudes, the latter displayed somewhat mixed attitudes about the environment. A further comparison suggested that ecocentric visitors were more likely to believe that their kind of travel did not harm the environment very much and they disagreed with the idea of not worrying about the environment when travelling. Relatedly, Wurzinger and Johansson (2006) in their study, found that nature-based tourists gave more importance to pro-environmental values (i.e. ecocentric values) than city tourists. Besides relating nature-based tourism to sustainability, another signiﬁcant concept in tourism, namely, authenticity, has also recently been related to the discourse of sustainability (see Cohen, 2002). Authenticity was a concept that was introduced to tourism research by MacCannell (1976). MacCannell’s theory was based upon the idea that the tourist was a metaphor for modern individuals. In their attempt to escape from the alienated conditions of a fragmented home society, they sought ‘the authentic’ elsewhere. Pristine nature is indeed one of major settings that represents ‘the authentic’ elsewhere (Curtin, 2005). This assumption implies that an authenticity-seeking modern tourist would be more interested in ecological sustainability. Although the above efforts increase our understanding of sustainable tourists, there is still a need for empirical studies that speciﬁcally reveal predictors of sustainable consumption in a tourism context (i.e. eco-minded tourists). This is indeed the main purpose of the current study.

METHOD Data and Sampling The data used for the current study are drawn from three surveys that were carried out by a marketing research company in order to obtain more systematic information (travel motives, preferences etc.) about potential

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tourists in three major tourist-generating countries to Northern Norway, namely the United Kingdom, Germany and France. The data collection took place in January 2006. In accordance with the purpose of the research, individuals above 30 years of age who had bought and travelled on a vacation to a foreign country in the past ﬁve years were to be interviewed. Consequently, 5,027 potential respondents in Germany (i.e. Northern Germany) were contacted, 1,317 of who were not available and 1,855 refused to participate. Out of the remaining 1,855, 300 individuals were randomly drawn. Further, out of 7,497 potential respondents in the England (i.e. London and South-East England), 2,170 were not available and 2,664 refused to participate. Out of the remaining 2,664, 300 individuals were randomly drawn. Finally, out of 7,661 potential respondents in France (i.e. Paris, Lyon and Coˆte d’Azur), 1,410 were not available and 3,126 refused to participate. Out of the remaining 3,126, 300 individuals were randomly drawn.

Variables The dependent variable (i.e. sustainability) was, in line with Roberts (1996), measured by using a 7-point ordinal scale (from 1 ¼ not important at all to 7 ¼ extremely important). That is to say, respondents were asked to indicate how important it was for them that their holiday exerted as little strain on the nature and environment as possible. However, since this metric variable was highly negatively skewed, it was transformed into a binomial variable through a median-split procedure. Respondents who scored above the median (6) were considered highly sustainable tourists whereas those who had scores equal to and below the median were deﬁned as low-sustainable tourists. As a result of this procedure 43 per cent (387) of the sample were deﬁned as highly sustainable tourists (coded as 1) while the remaining 57 per cent (513) were labelled low-sustainable tourists (coded as 0). In all likelihood this high skewness occurred as a result of the nature of the question asked since respondents may have felt that it was politically correct to give a more favourable answer to such a question. Consequently, it was expected that most of the respondents would lie at the higher end of the distribution. Since the aim of the study was to examine tourists’ attitudes towards sustainability as precisely as possible, focusing on the respondent group that scored highest (7) on the sustainability scale was thus deemed appropriate. Transforming the dependent variable into a binominal variable allowed the use of a nonparametric multivariate statistical test, known to

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A CHAID Approach

have an advantage in terms of power compared to its parametric counterparts when data are not normally distributed. The study included several independent variables. In line with Curtin (2005), one of these comprised the importance that respondents attached to authenticity as a travel motive, measured on a 7-point scale (from 1 ¼ not important at all to 7 ¼ extremely important). Inspired by Valentine’s (1992) deﬁnition of nature-based tourism, another variable distinguished between those who preferred to go on a holiday in order to enjoy pure and untouched areas (coded as 1) and those who did not have such a preference (coded as 0). A nominal variable represented country of origin, consisting of three categories: the United Kingdom, Germany and France. Gender was included as a demographic variable (0 ¼ male and 1 ¼ female). Education level was measured using an ordinal scale (1 ¼ primary school (1–9 years), 2 ¼ comprehensive/grammar school, 3 ¼ university/college (1–3 years), 4 ¼ university/college (4–6 years) and 5 ¼ university/college (7þ years)). Age was also measured utilising an ordinal scale (1 ¼ 30–39, 2 ¼ 40–49, 3 ¼ 50–59, 4 ¼ 60–69 and 5 ¼ 70þ). Household income, an independent variable, was measured in Euro as an ordinal scale (1 ¼ 0–12,500; 2 ¼ 12,501–25,000; 3 ¼ 25,001–37,500; 4 ¼ 37,501–50,000; 5 ¼ 50,001– 62,500; 6 ¼ 62,501–75,000; 7 ¼ 75,001–87,500 and 8 ¼ 87,501 or more).

Data Analysis A chi-square automatic interaction detection (CHAID) analysis, using SPSS, was conducted in order to identify the predictors of sustainability. CHAID was preferred since it is a multivariate technique that is considered appropriate when the dependent variable is dichotomous and the independent variables are nominal and/or ordinal as in the current study. An alternative to CHAID would have been a multiple logistic regression analysis. However, the former was known to perform better and more easily when the independent variables were expected to interact in relation to the dependent variable. Further, CHAID provided a tree diagram, which made the interpretation of the results much easier. CHAID is an algorithm that, based on combinations of independent variables, divides data into exclusive and exhaustive segments that differ with respect to the dependent variable (van Diepen & Franses, 2006; Dubinsky, Nataraajan, & Huang, 2005). For each segment of respondents CHAID assigns a probability of response (van Diepen & Franses, 2006). Based on these probabilities, one can rank the segments and focus on the

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segment(s) of interest, which in the current study was the group(s) of respondents that had a strong probability of being highly sustainable tourists. When forming segments/subsegments of respondents, categories of the relevant independent variable are combined to minimise the within-group variance and maximise between-group variance (Godley, Fiedler, & Funk, 1998). In other words, CHAID merges those categories of an independent variable that are homogeneous with respect to the dependent variable and maintains all categories that are heterogeneous (van Diepen & Franses, 2006). The analyst can at the same time predetermine the minimum number of respondents that is acceptable for each newly formed segment. In the current study, a minimum segment size of 50 was decided in order to increase the possibilities of obtaining more detailed information from the CHAID analysis. Brieﬂy then, CHAID would merge categories of an independent variable that represent at least 50 respondents who signiﬁcantly differ from other categories. This procedure continues until the size of the segment is too small (o50) or there are no further signiﬁcant splits. However, the analyst has the possibility of limiting the maximum level (e.g. three levels) for splitting respondents. The higher the number of levels the more detailed picture (or deeper tree diagram) one obtains (SPSS Inc., 2000). At each level CHAID divides respondents into two or more segments based on categories of the most powerful predictor of the dependent variable. When the dependent variable is metric, an F-test is used, and when the dependent variable is dichotomous, a chi-square test is used for splitting and merging (Schmidt & Hollensen, 2006).

CHAID Analysis in Tourism Research In spite of the apparent advantages of CHAID analysis, it has rarely been used in the ﬁeld of tourism. One of the ﬁrst thorough applications of CHAID in tourism is that of Chen (2003b) who identiﬁed four distinct segments with different likelihood of recommending the destination to others. Later, two of these segments were classiﬁed as actionable segments while the other two as non-actionable segments. While segmenting, the author ascertained also the predictors of tourists’ recommendation. In another study, the authors (Kemperman, Joh, & Timmermans, 2004) used CHAID to compare a sample of ﬁrst-time and repeat visitors based on their activity pattern choices. In another recent work, the authors (Legoherel & Wong, 2006) utilised CHAID to identify different segments (in particular

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A CHAID Approach

‘big spenders’) among a sample of international tourists based on their direct and daily expenditures. In so doing, they also ascertained the most signiﬁcant predictors of tourist expenditures. Another study that shows possible beneﬁts of CHAID in tourism studies is that of Byrd and Gustke (2007) who, by using decision trees, identiﬁed four distinct stakeholder groups based on support for sustainable tourism development in a community. Hsu and Kang (2007) also used CHAID approach to segment a sample of international visitors to Hong Kong based on a set of sociodemographic and trip characteristics as the independent variables and likelihood to return as the dependent variable.

RESULTS As shown in Table 1, the sample included 57 per cent female and 43 per cent male respondents. As far as education was concerned, nearly half of the respondents had or were studying for a university/college degree, whereas the rest had a lower educational level. The sample was also nearly equally divided between those below and above 50 years of age. When it came to household income, a considerable percentage (66 per cent) earned less than 50,001 Euro while about 10 per cent had in fact a household income above 87,500 Euro. The sample included 300 respondents from each of the following countries: United Kingdom, Germany and France. Further, nearly 70 per cent (scored W4) of the sample considered authenticity to be a relatively important motive for travelling. Moreover, almost half of the respondents (55 per cent) could be considered nature-based tourists in that they preferred to go on a holiday in order to enjoy pure and untouched areas. Finally, nearly half (43 per cent) of the sample could be deﬁned as highly sustainable tourists.

Predictors and Segments of Sustainable Consumption in Tourism As the starting point of the CHAID analysis, the split of the sample based on the study’s dependent variable (i.e. sustainability) was ﬁrst presented. As shown in Fig. 1, 57 per cent of the sample was low-sustainable tourists whereas the remaining 43 per cent were highly sustainable tourists. In other words, the probabilities of someone being a low-sustainable or highly sustainable tourist were, respectively, 0.57 and 0.43 in the current sample.

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MEHMET MEHMETOGLU

Table 1.

Descriptive Statistics (N ¼ 606–900).

Items

N

Per cent

Gender Female Male

510 390

56.7 43.3

Education Primary school (1–9 years) Comprehensive/grammar school University/college (1–3 years) University/college (4–6 years) University/college (7þ years)

316 178 127 171 77

36.4 20.4 14.6 19.7 8.9

Age 30–39 years 40–49 years 50–59 years 60–69 years 70þ years

204 262 220 147 67

22.7 29.1 24.5 16.3 7.4

Household income (in Euro) 0–12,500 12,501–25,000 25,001–37,500 37,501–50,000 50,001–62,500 62,501–75,000 75,001–87,500 87,501 or more

64 115 132 87 66 48 29 65

10.5 19.0 21.8 14.4 10.9 7.9 4.8 10.7

Country United Kingdom Germany France

300 300 300

33.3 33.3 33.3

Authenticity 1 ¼ not important at all 2 3 4 5 6 7 ¼ extremely important

31 33 68 124 246 191 207

3.4 3.7 7.6 13.8 27.3 21.2 23.0

Nature Nature-based tourists Non-nature-based tourists

499 401

55.4 44.6

Sustainability Low-sustainable tourists Highly-sustainable tourists

513 387

57.0 43.0

N 100 32 132

N 89 53 142

Fig. 1.

% 47.2 52.8 24.0

N 102 114 216

Node 10 Category Low sustainable tourist High Sustainable tourist Total

NO

% 43.6 56.4 6.1

N 24 31 55

CHAID Tree Diagram for Sustainability.

Category Low sustainable tourist High Sustainable tourist Total

% 62.7 37.3 15.8

Category Low sustainable tourist High Sustainable tourist Total

FEMALE

Node 9

Node 8

MALE

% 33.3 66.7 15.7

N 47 94 141

NATURE-BASED TOURIST

Category Low sustainable tourist High Sustainable tourist Total

P-value=0.038, Chi-square=4.308, df=1

N 191 167 358

GENDER

% 53.4 46.6 39.8

P-value=0.004, Chi-square=8.221, df=1

Category Low sustainable tourist High Sustainable tourist Total

N 164 39 203

Category Low sustainable tourist High Sustainable tourist Total

% 80.8 19.2 22.6

Node 5

GERMANY & FRANCE

Node 6

Category Low sustainable tourist High Sustainable tourist Total

% 28.0 72.0 23.0

N 58 149 207

Category Low sustainable tourist High Sustainable tourist Total

Node 11

YES

% 26.7 73.3 9.6

Node 7 Category Low sustainable tourist High Sustainable tourist Total

GERMANY

COUNTRY

UK & FRANCE

>6

Node 3

P-value=0.013, Chi-square=6.192, df=1

N 355 206 561

P-value=0.000, Chi-square=98.908, df=2

COUNTRY

% 63.3 36.7 62.3

Node 4

UK

N 513 387 900

P-value=0.000, Chi-square=41.966, df=1

Category Low sustainable tourist High Sustainable tourist Total

% 75.8 24.2 14.7

Category Low sustainable tourist High Sustainable tourist Total

3-6

Node 2

Node 1

<=3

% 57.0 43.0 100

IMPORTANCE OF AUTHENTICITY AS A TRAVEL MOTIVE

Node 0 Category Low sustainable tourist High Sustainable tourist Total

N 23 63 86

% 16.7 83.3 7.3

N 11 55 66

A CHAID Approach 15

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MEHMET MEHMETOGLU

As depicted in Fig. 1, the ﬁrst independent variable that signiﬁcantly distinguished between respondents as being either highly sustainable tourists or low-sustainable tourists was authenticity (i.e. the importance attached to authenticity as a travel motive). For those respondents who were least interested (i.e. scored r3) in authenticity, the probability of being a highly sustainable tourist was 24 per cent whereas this probability was 37 and 72 per cent, respectively, for those who were somewhat (i.e. scored 4–6) or highly interested (i.e. scored 7) in authenticity. This ﬁnding suggested that as importance attached to authenticity increased, the probability of being a highly sustainable tourist also increased. As shown in Fig. 1, respondents who were somewhat and highly interested in authenticity were split by country of origin. In other words, the second variable that predicted sustainability was country of origin. Among those somewhat interested in authenticity, the probability of being a highly sustainable tourist was 19 and 47 per cent, respectively, for British, and German/French respondents. On the other hand, among those who were highly interested in authenticity the probabilities of being a highly sustainable tourist were 67 and 83 per cent respectively for British/French and German respondents. The third variable that discriminated between respondents as being either highly sustainable tourists or low-sustainable tourists was whether or not they were nature-based tourists (i.e. preferred to go on a holiday to enjoy pure and untouched areas). As seen in Fig. 1, among highly authenticityinterested British and French respondents the probability of being a highly sustainable tourist was 73 per cent for those who were nature-based tourists. In the same group, this probability was 56 per cent for those who were not considered nature-based tourists. Another variable that predicted sustainability was gender as somewhatauthenticity-interested (i.e. scoring 3–6) German/French respondents were split further by gender. In this group, the probability of being a highly sustainable tourist was higher for females (53 per cent) than for males (37 per cent). When it comes to the relative importance of these four signiﬁcant predictors, authenticity was the most important predictor in that it contributed to the highest percentage increase in the probability of a respondent being a highly sustainable tourists (see Fig. 1). That is, the percentage difference between those who were somewhat and highly interested in authenticity respondents was 35 per cent. As regards the second most important predictor (country of origin), it increased the probability of being a highly sustainable tourist by 27 per cent. This represented the percentage difference

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A CHAID Approach

between British/French and German respondents in the group who were highly interested in authenticity. The third most important predictor was a person being a nature-based tourist. The percentage difference between those who were nature-based tourists and those who were not was 17 per cent (73–56). The fourth most important predictor was gender in that the percentage difference between females and males was 16 per cent. Since CHAID is a stepwise analysis, non-signiﬁcant independent variables were naturally not included in the model (see Fig. 1). These comprised educational level, age and household income. In a CHAID tree diagram, each node (represented by a rectangle) that stops splitting respondents further can be deﬁned as a ﬁnal segment. From Fig. 1, it can be seen that there were seven such segments. Respondents who had the highest probability (83 per cent) of being highly sustainable tourists were in segment 7, represented by highly authenticity-interested Germans. This segment was followed by segments 11, 10 and 9, respectively with 73, 56 and 53 per cent probability. These segments that had a higher probability than the sample’s overall probability (of being highly sustainable tourists) could be regarded as signiﬁcant segments in accordance with the research problem of the current study (see Table 2). With regard to those segments that had a lower probability than that of the sample, they could be considered of minor interest. These, in the current study, were represented by segments 8, 1 and 4, respectively, with 37, 24 and 19 per cent. The classiﬁcation matrix indicated that low-sustainable tourists were predicted with 68.8 per cent and highly sustainable tourists with 68.0 per Table 2. Segment

7 11 10 9 8 1 4

Proﬁle of Segments (N ¼ 900).

Proﬁle

Probability of Being a HighlySustainable Tourist (%)

N

Highly authenticity interested German tourists Highly authenticity interested British/French nature-based tourists Highly authenticity interested British/French non-nature-based tourists Somewhat authenticity interested German/ French female tourists Somewhat authenticity interested German/ French male tourists Least authenticity interested tourists Somewhat authenticity interested British tourists

83 73

66 86

56

55

53

216

37

142

24 19

132 203

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MEHMET MEHMETOGLU

cent, for an overall correct classiﬁcation of 68.4 per cent. Pseudo R2 was calculated for each level of the overall model shown in Fig. 1. The ﬁrst level (model) that included only the authenticity variable explained 12 per cent of the variation in the dependent variable (i.e. sustainability). The second level with the variable country of origin added explained 17 per cent of the variation in the dependent variable. The third level with the remaining two variables (gender and whether or not a person was a nature-based tourist) added explained 18 per cent of the variation in the dependent variable. The classiﬁcation rate and R2 indicated that the current model could be considered an acceptable one. In order to check the general validity of the current study’s results (i.e. resulting segments), a cross-validation analysis was conducted following Chen’s (2003a) approach to CHAID-based segmentation. That is, having randomly divided the whole sample into two sub-samples (training and test sample), the main analysis was carried out again. The results from both training (90 per cent) and test sample (10 per cent) produced the same number of segments and their respective contents as well as similar segment sizes and classiﬁcation rates. However, in order to further strengthen the generalisability of the study’s ﬁndings one should perform the same analysis with respect to other random samples obtained from the same population.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION One of the signiﬁcant ﬁndings of the current study is the fact that people who give importance to authenticity are more ecologically sustainable in their tourism consumption attitudes and behaviour. A theoretical explanation for this association at the individual level could be that people care about the environment when travelling because they think such an attitude would contribute to conserving pristine nature where they want to experience the authentic. This implies that both individualistic (personal beneﬁt) and collectivist (social beneﬁt) motives stimulate an environmentally friendly behaviour of tourists. This proposition calls for use of personal values in ascertaining predictors/antecedents of environmentally friendly behaviour in tourism. Relatedly, one could propose that the internal values (e.g. self-fulﬁlment) and external values (e.g. a sense of belonging) from list of values (LOV) of Kahle (1983) would both be positively associated with different forms of sustainable consumption in tourism. The current study also conﬁrmed the relationship, though weak, between whether people were nature-based tourists or not and sustainable

A CHAID Approach

19

consumption in tourism. In other words, people who could be considered nature-based tourists exhibited a more sustainable consumption attitude with respect to travelling. This weak association indicates simply the fact that sustainability is not only conﬁned to those interested in nature but also other segments of the tourist population. This weak association may also imply the fact that nature-based tourists are not homogeneous (Mehmetoglu, 2005). As such, we could indeed suggest that environmentally friendly behaviour varies depending on how much inﬂuence nature has on people’s decision to travel to a destination. In so doing, one may discover that those inﬂuenced strongly by nature to travel would exhibit a higher level of environmental concern and consumption in tourism sphere. An important ﬁnding of the study is that demographics do not have explanatory power in the ﬁeld of environmental psychology, a fact which is also consistent with previous empirical work (Diamantopoulos et al., 2003). This ﬁnding suggests that future research should include some prospective powerful variables (i.e. environmental values, personal norms etc.) when investigating the major stimuli for environmentally friendly behaviour in different domains including tourism. Of the demographics in addition to gender, nationality had also an effect on a sustainable consumption attitude. The fact that nationality had an effect stands in contrast to Dann’s (1993) implied thesis that nationality/country of origin has no longer a considerable value in tourism research. In other words, the current study shows that nationality still has an explanatory power in some tourism contexts. Further, this study shows that gender affects sustainable consumption in tourism too, and accordingly conﬁrms the fact that females generally perform signiﬁcantly higher rates of environmentally friendly behaviour (Tindall, Davies, & Mauboules, 2003). This particular ﬁnding may also have to do with a possible assumption that females are actively engaged in holiday decision-making. One of the salient practical implications of the present investigation is in fact related to the ﬁnding that authenticity and sustainability are associated. This observation poses several challenges for marketers of nature-based tourism. In terms of promotion of nature-based tourism destinations, marketers should put more emphasis on the possibility of experiencing the authentic in unspoiled nature. In other words, a sole focus on nature will most likely not be an effective way of marketing a nature-based destination. This assumption is also strengthened by previous research on nature-based tourists, suggesting that nature-based tourists are as much interested in nature as in cultural activities on holiday (Mehmetoglu, 2007).

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MEHMET MEHMETOGLU

The relationship between authenticity and sustainability has also an implication for nature-based destinations that should encourage environmentally friendly attitudes and behaviour from their existing and prospective visitors. Destination managers can more actively inform their visitors so that they know that their responsible behaviour with respect to nature and the environment at the destination contributes strongly to creating authentic and pleasant travel experiences for them. This is also based upon the idea that both the tourism industry and tourists co-produce holiday experiences. Sustainability has in the course of the past decade established itself as one of the main attributes of destination competitiveness (Ritchie & Crouch, 2003). One important aspect of sustainability of a tourism destination is indeed developing and supplying ecoproducts to potential tourists. However, although the interest in ecoproducts is increasing, the willingness to pay for such products is known to be not that strong (Formica & Kothari, 2008). A possible explanation for this paradoxical fact is that people may generally feel more obliged to contribute actively to environmental issues in their home sphere than on holiday. In addition to the weak willingness to pay for environmentally friendly tourism products, another challenge is that many tourism destinations would in a few years time may look similar as far as sustainability is concerned. To overcome both these aforementioned challenges, destination managers should further justify their destinations’ attractiveness not only by focusing on sustainability, but also authentic experiences. In other words, destinations should explicitly communicate some unique personal beneﬁts to potential visitors as well as genuine efforts done to maintain the sustainability of their destinations. These ﬁndings have also some practical implications for destination marketers. One of these is related to the impetus behind the paradigm of pro-environmental behaviour in general. Modernity, environmental movement and media coverage are among the major forces behind environmentalism. This implies also that in certain countries the above-mentioned factors may have more inﬂuence on public awareness of environmental issues. It could thus be suggested that destinations gear their authentic nature-based attractions and products towards already highly environmentally concerned tourist populations in such countries. In fact, countries with higher level of environmental concern would also exhibit higher level of purchasing power. This could be another possible advantage for destinations that would like to attract people with purchasing power as well as environmentally responsible behaviour.

21

A CHAID Approach

ACKNOWLEDGMENT I would like to thank Finnmark Reiseliv for providing the data of the study.

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THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN LEISURE BEHAVIORS AND LIFE SATISFACTION OF FOREIGN LABORS IN TAIWAN – THE CASE OF THAI LABORS Tzuhui A. Tseng, David Y. Chang and Ching-Cheng Shen ABSTRACT This empirical study investigated the relationships among leisure behaviors and life satisfaction of Thai labors in Taiwan. Convenience sampling and several statistical techniques were adopted. The key ﬁndings were (1) Leisure preference, participation, constraint, satisfaction, and overall life satisfaction are inﬂuenced by one’s socioeconomic background. (2) Because of living in a new country, Thai labors’ past and current leisure participations although are strongly related, they are different. In addition, the relation between their leisure preference and participation was found signiﬁcant when living in Thailand but not when living in Taiwan. (3) The constraints preventing Thai labors from participating in leisure activities in Taiwan were found. They signiﬁcantly reduced one’s leisure participation and satisfaction. (4) A positive relationship between Thai labors’ leisure participation and leisure Advances in Hospitality and Leisure, Volume 5, 25–50 Copyright r 2009 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1745-3542/doi:10.1108/S1745-3542(2009)0000005006

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TZUHUI A. TSENG ET AL.

satisfaction in Taiwan was found along with the ﬁnding that their leisure satisfaction was also positively related to their life satisfaction.

INTRODUCTION In recent years, foreign labors were introduced to Taiwan due to the demand of Taiwan’s economic development. The number of legal foreign labors in Taiwan had increased to more than 300,000 in 2005. Foreign labors can make up for the shortage of blue-collar workers in Taiwan, but many of them have experienced some difﬁculties to ﬁt in the new environment because of being away from their homes and not adapting to the society and environment well and the difference in language, religion, culture, diet . . . , etc. As a result, these factors can cause physical and mental stress for the foreign labors and eventually affect their health and work performance. Therefore, how to effectively help foreign labors manage their living, health, and stress became an important topic to their employers. Studies have shown that leisure activities could promote physical and mental health. Iso-Ahola (1980) stated that when people were doing leisure activities, they would gain social experience through games and leisure participation, develop and maintain social behavior and interaction skills, enhance character built, achieve entertainment and relaxation, and ﬁnally improve health. The study by Taiwan Small and Medium Enterprise Administration (SMEA) in 1999 found that employers were always concerned about foreign labors’ leisure behaviors and often troubled by how to arrange leisure activities for them. Therefore, understanding the relationships among a foreign labor’s leisure behavior and overall satisfaction of living in Taiwan is very important. However, prior studies regarding foreign labors were mostly related to foreign labors’ introduction process, management, crime, disease, runaway, inﬂuence on economic development, human rights, and illegal working (Chang, 2002; Yeh, Kuo, Yeh, & Li, 2002; Lin, 2001). There were not as many studies addressing foreign labors’ life style or leisure time (Lee, 2001; Hsiao, 2005). In other words, most studies seemed to concern more about the issues relating to the society and economic development in Taiwan when it came to the topic of foreign labors. The research about a foreign labor’s leisure life and life satisfaction in Taiwan is found lacking. Therefore, this study aimed to understand the relationships among foreign labors’ leisure behaviors and overall satisfaction of living in Taiwan. Thai labors were used as the study subject to investigate the relationship between their leisure preference, leisure participation, leisure constraint, leisure satisfaction, and

Relationships between Leisure Behaviors and Life Satisfaction

27

life satisfaction in Taiwan. The result from this study would provide valuable information helping foreign labors manage their leisure life, actively participate in leisure activities that they prefer, increase their life satisfaction, reduce their conﬂicts toward the society and employer, and furthermore improve their work performance. The study can be made to the body of literature on the topic of foreign labors. One of the main purposes of foreign labors crossing over oceans and coming to a new country is to make more money to send home. Foreign labors need to use facial expressions and gestures everyday to communicate with their employers and coworkers because of the language barrier. Therefore, besides having the feeling of loneliness in an unfamiliar environment, the biggest challenge is to deal with the cultural difference and not being able to adjust to the place that was unavoidable. This is a cross-cultural adjustment issue. Most researchers viewed cross-cultural adjustment as the psychological adjustment made when being in a changed environment to reduce conﬂict and stress from work- and nonwork-related issues and mentally increase the feelings of comfort and ease (Aycan, 1997; Caligiuri, 2000; Takeuchi, Yun, & Russell, 2002). Many researchers also believed that cross-cultural adjustment was a multidimensional concept (Black, 1990; Black & Stephens, 1989; Takeuchi et al., 2002; Morley & Flynn, 2003). In addition, according to prior research, when one is having the symptoms such as anxiety, susceptibility or not able to adjust psychologically due to cultural differences, language barrier, and custom differences, and is constantly worrying about the violation of the law or having misconducts, one is experiencing ‘‘cultural shock.’’ The process of adjusting to this cultural shock is called ‘‘cross-cultural adjustment’’ (Yang, Shih, Cheng, Ho, & Chen, 1999). This is a common issue to foreign labors. Rublee and Shaw (1991) studied Latin American woman refugees living in Canada and found that due to the communication difﬁculty, new community format, and the lack of the opportunity to interact with neighbors or go to churches, these woman refugees did not think about leisure activities at all. Tyrone and Shaw (1997) studied female immigrants from India to Canada and found that immigration was the main factor that brought about the changes in participating in leisure activities. They found that more Indian female immigrants no longer used their leisure times only on family. They rather enjoyed spending time in developing social relationships in some group-managed territories. Stodolska (2000) interviewed Poland immigrants in Canada and found that most of the immigrants realized that it is necessary for them to adjust themselves to a different society and environment in the new country. Overall, the research works above have clearly suggested that

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the change in the environment where people live would also change the way people participate in a leisure activity. Therefore, the issues, such as ‘‘leisure activity preference,’’ ‘‘leisure activity participation,’’ ‘‘leisure constraint,’’ ‘‘leisure satisfaction,’’ and ‘‘life satisfaction’’ are very important when it comes to the study of foreign labors in Taiwan. Leisure Activity Preference Leisure activity preference is the preference degree one shows toward different leisure activities, and the intensity of the degree is strong enough to reveal the preferred tendency one has toward a certain thing. Teng (2002) believed that such intensity can represent the degree of change of one’s leisure preference. Crawford and Godbey (1987) stated that leisure preference was the product of an individual’s socialization and learning process or the result of an individual’s characteristic and social interaction. Kinder and Sanders (1996) used racial factors to understand leisure preference, and Philipp (1998) found that leisure preference among teenagers was related to race, gender, peers, and past living experiences and behaviors. Jordan’s (1998) study showed that different races and nationalities have different leisure preferences. Leyser and Cole (2004) found that leisure preference during childhood and adolescent was usually very important to adult’s leisure behaviors. These studies suggest that leisure preference is the degree and intensity one shows toward different leisure activities. It can be inﬂuenced by factors such as race, gender, peers, past living experiences and behaviors, age, marital status, and income. Therefore, these variables were included in this study to understand the relationship between leisure preference and the variables. Leisure Activity Participation According to Ragheb and Grifﬁth (1982), leisure activity participation is the frequency with which one participates in certain leisure activities or a particular type of leisure activity an individual participates that can represent oneself. Lin (1984) indicated that leisure participation was a behavior that is guided by a goal and conducted for a reason, and its purpose was to satisfy the participant’s physical, psychological, and social needs. Based on these research ﬁndings, leisure activity was divided into four types in the study: recreational and social activities, informative and artistic activities, perceptual and leisured activities, and athletic and physical activities.

Relationships between Leisure Behaviors and Life Satisfaction

29

Leisure Constraint Leisure constraint is any reason that restrains an individual from participating in leisure activities, reduces one’s participating time, and obstructs an individual to gain satisfaction. Boothby, Tungatt and Townsend (1981) studied the 43 constraint factors of leisure activity and grouped them into social constraint and individual constraint. Searle and Jackson (1985) stated that lack of transportation was one of the main obstacles for women to participate in leisure activities in their study. Crawford and Godbey (1987) identiﬁed three types of leisure constraint factors: intrapersonal constraint (e.g., stress, depression, religiosity, anxiety, perceived self-skill, and participant’s evaluations of the appropriateness of various leisure activities), interpersonal constraint (e.g., a group of friends might inﬂuence each other’s leisure preference), and structural constraint (e.g., leisure resource, equipment, time, cost, safety, weather, and opportunity). Chen (1996) examined constraints of student’s leisure activity from nine colleges in south Taiwan and found that their constraints were inﬂuenced accordingly by interest, time, companion, cost, facility equipment, skills, physical strength and health condition, personality, transportation, and information. These constraints would also inﬂuence their participation in a leisure activity. Hsiao (2005) discovered that among the Philippine labors in Taipei County, females had encountered intrapersonal constraints more, while males had to deal with interpersonal and structural constraints more. In this study, Crawford and Godbey’s (1987) leisure constraint format and characteristics of foreign labors were being adopted to develop the survey questions and the data collected from these questions were used as the leisure constraint variable.

Leisure Satisfaction Beard and Ragheb (1980) found that leisure satisfaction is the positive perceptions or feelings an individual forms, elicits, or gains when engaging in leisure activities and choices. They established a research framework to measure leisure satisfaction using Leisure Satisfaction Scale (LSS) that they developed. LSS consists of 51 items comprising 6 dimensions deﬁned by types of leisure activities: (1) Psychological Dimension: Beneﬁts consist of sense of freedom, enjoyment, involvement, and challenge of intelligence.

30

TZUHUI A. TSENG ET AL.

(2) Educational Dimension: Leisure activities can stimulate participant’s abilities and encourage individuals to understand themselves and understand the environment. (3) Social Dimension: Leisure activities can provide social interactions that beneﬁt individuals. (4) Relaxation Dimension: Leisure activities can help people escape from stress in life and function as a source of relaxation. (5) Physiological Dimension: Leisure activities can help develop strength, maintain health, control weight, and promote other physical comforts. (6) Aesthetic Dimension: Reward of aesthetic; the environment for a leisure activity should be a comfortable, interesting, attractive, and well designed for the participants. Therefore, this study deﬁned leisure satisfaction as the perceptions or feelings an individual forms or gains from engaging in leisure activities. This study also adopted Beard and Ragheb’s (1980) LSS as the indicators to measure foreign labors’ leisure satisfaction in Taiwan.

Life Satisfaction There are many concepts or terms used to describe the satisfaction at one’s life, such as ‘‘morale,’’ ‘‘joy,’’ ‘‘life adjustment,’’ ‘‘quality of life,’’ ‘‘subjective happiness,’’ and ‘‘life satisfaction.’’ Neugarten, Havighursts, and Tobin (1961) used individual’s internal subjective perception to evaluate the psychological happiness one had in life presently or in the past. Stones and Kozma (1980) regarded life satisfaction as the pleasure one had when one’s wishes in life were accomplished to a certain degree. Carp and Carp (1983) believed that life satisfaction is the indicator for each age group during adulthood and, by subjectively evaluating one’s past and current life, one can understand if he or she is adjusted to life and the degree of happiness felt psychologically. Burckhardt (1985) found that having a good quality of life is life satisfaction. Spreitzer and Snyder (1974) found females overall seem to have higher life satisfaction than males do. Riddick and Daniel (1984) believed that leisure activity participation is an important factor that can inﬂuence life satisfaction and retired women have a clearer tendency to participate in leisure activities than housewives do. Tsai, Liu, and Huang (2001) found that retired elders who participate in more leisure activities have higher life satisfaction. To measure life satisfaction, Adelman, Taylor, and Nelson (1989) developed a Perceived Life Satisfaction Scale (PLSS) including 19 items to examine college students’ satisfaction. Ding and Wang (2004) found that Huebner’s 40-item Multidimensional Student’s Life

31

Relationships between Leisure Behaviors and Life Satisfaction

Satisfaction Scale (MSLSS) is useful because its validity and effectiveness were continuously being tested and accumulated. They believed that MSLSS is relatively more accurate when it comes to measuring teenager’s satisfaction with life. Therefore, this study used a revised Huebner’s scale as the tool to measure Thai labors’ life satisfaction in Taiwan. Rational Structure Based on the literature reviewed, this research developed a framework (Fig. 1) to study the relationships among leisure preference, leisure participation in the foreign labor’s original country and in Taiwan, leisure constraint, and foreign labors’ leisure satisfaction and life satisfaction. Hypothesis Formulation Leisure Preference and Leisure Participation Foreign labors crossed the ocean to come to a new country to work without their family. They are not considered immigrants but cross-cultural aliens who will live in a new country for a certain period of time. They had experiences of participating in leisure activities in their native countries and in the new country. Jordan’s (1998) research showed that different races or nationalities have different leisure preferences. Stodolska’s (2000) research suggested that even if living in a new environment, immigrants would still try to engage in some leisure activities to which they were used. Leyser and Cole (2004) found that one’s leisure preference developed during childhood and adolescence is usually very important to form one’s adult’s leisure behavior. Teng (2002) stated that one’s preference degree toward different leisure activities and its intensity are strong enough to reﬂect on one’s

Leisure

H2

Preference

H1

Leisure Participation in Taiwan LPT

H3

H4

H6

Leisure Participation in Native Country LPN

Leisure Constraint in Taiwan LCT

H5 Leisure Satisfaction in Taiwan LST

Fig. 1.

Research Framework.

H7

Life Satisfaction in Taiwan LS

32

TZUHUI A. TSENG ET AL.

preferred tendency toward a certain thing. In other words, the ways foreign labors choose and engage in leisure activities in a new country and in their native countries are correlated. Therefore, this research came up with the following hypotheses (H1, H2, and H3): H1. Leisure preference (LP) has positive inﬂuence on leisure participation in native country (LPN). H2. Leisure preference (LP) has positive inﬂuence on leisure participation in Taiwan (LPT). H3. Leisure participation (LP) in native country has positive inﬂuence on leisure participation in Taiwan (LPT). Leisure Constraint and Leisure Participation In addition, researchers found that when participating in leisure activities, frustrations caused by any kind of constraint would keep an individual from gaining a satisfying experience and leisure constraint is negatively related to leisure satisfaction (Iso-Ahola & Weissinger, 1990; Kay & Jackson, 1991). Chen (1996) discovered that college students’ leisure constraint factors can inﬂuence their actual participations in leisure activities. Alexandris and Carroll’s (1997) research indicated that there is a negative correlation between an individual’s intrapersonal constraint (lack of interest and knowledge) and leisure participation. Shaw, Caldwell, and Kleiber (1996) even found that women feel more constraints from social restrictions, standards, and expectations when it comes to leisure participation. Therefore, the study brought forward the hypotheses H4 and H5 as follows: H4. Leisure constraint in Taiwan (LCT) has negative inﬂuence on leisure participation in Taiwan (LPT). H5. Leisure constraint in Taiwan (LCT) has negative inﬂuence on leisure satisfaction in Taiwan (LST). Leisure Participation and Leisure Satisfaction Furthermore, Ragheb and Grifﬁth (1982) studied the relationships among leisure participation, leisure satisfaction, and life satisfaction and found that: (1) people with high leisure participation have high life satisfaction; (2) people with high leisure participation have high leisure satisfaction; (3) people with high leisure satisfaction also have high life satisfaction; and (4) all six factors that they found constructing leisure satisfaction are all

Relationships between Leisure Behaviors and Life Satisfaction

33

related to life satisfaction. Many other consequent studies also support the ﬁndings and believe that leisure participation and leisure satisfaction are correlated positively – the higher leisure participation one has, the more satisﬁed one feel (Sneegas, 1986; Iso-Ahola & Weissinger, 1990; Brown, Frankle, & Fennell, 1991; Ragheb & Tate, 1993; Chen, 2003). Other studies also suggested that one’s leisure satisfaction can effectively predict one’s quality of life (Decarlo, 1974; Graney, 1975; Riddick & Daniel, 1984). Therefore, the study proposed hypotheses H6 and H7: H6. Leisure participation (LPT) has positive inﬂuence on leisure satisfaction in Taiwan (LST). H7. Leisure satisfaction (LPT) has positive inﬂuence on life satisfaction in Taiwan (LS).

RESEARCH METHOD The original questionnaire was written in Chinese. However, because the study samples are Thai labors, the ﬁnal version of the survey has to be written in Thai. A translation agency in Taiwan was used to translate Chinese into Thai and then some Chinese immigrants who lived in Thailand for many years were asked to translate Thai back into Chinese. The two versions of the surveys in the two different languages were compared. Multiple rounds of revisions on the wordings and syntax of the survey questions were conducted to ensure that the survey written in Thai deliver the same meanings expressed originally in Chinese. Questions asked in the questionnaire were related to leisure preference, leisure participation, leisure constraints, leisure satisfaction, and life satisfaction. These questions were arranged in different sections in the questionnaire and the ﬁve-point Likert Scale was used for all questions to measure the frequency and the degree of the respondent’s preference or agreement with the questions. For example, 27 items extracted from literature were used to understand a foreign labor’s leisure preference (1 ¼ strongly not like, 2 ¼ not like, 3 ¼ neutral, 4 ¼ like, 5 ¼ strongly like) and leisure participation (1 ¼ never attended, 2 ¼ occasionally attended, 3 ¼ sometimes attended, 4 ¼ often attended, 5 ¼ always attended) with regard to leisure activities. Seventeen items adopted from Crawford and Godbey (1987) were used to study a foreign labor’s leisure constraints and were included in another section (1 ¼ strongly disagree, 2 ¼ disagree, 3 ¼ neutral, 4 ¼ agree, 5 ¼ strongly

34

TZUHUI A. TSENG ET AL.

agree). In a different section, 20 items modiﬁed from Beard and Ragheb (1980) were used to measure foreign labors’ leisure satisfaction and 14 items were adopted from Huebner’s Life Scale to measure a foreign labor’s life satisfaction (1 ¼ strongly disagree, 2 ¼ disagree, 3 ¼ neutral, 4 ¼ agree, 5 ¼ strongly agree). Convenience sampling technique was used to survey Thai labors in Taoyuan County in north of Taiwan from February 13th to March 28th, 2006. A total of 640 surveys were distributed and 319 usable responses were received with a 49.84% response rate.

ANALYSES AND RESULTS Respondent’s Demographic Information Results of the participants’ demographic analysis are shown in Table 1. More male labors (62.7%) participated in the study. The major age group of the Table 1. Interviewees’ Demographic Information. Demographic Gender Age

Education

Marital status Average monthly income (New Taiwan Dollar)

Religion

Variables

Amount

%

Male Female 20–24 25–29 30–34 35 and above Elementary and under Junior high school Senior high school Junior college University Single Married Under 15,000 15,001–20,000 20,001–25,000 25,001–30,000 30,001–35,000 Above 35,001 Buddhism Christian Others

200 119 34 129 103 49 36 192 43 41 7 183 135 66 176 54 18 5 0 315 3 1

62.7 37.3 10.8 41.0 32.7 15.5 11.3 60.2 13.5 12.8 2.2 57.4 42.3 20.7 55.2 16.9 5.6 1.6 0 98.8 0.9 0.3

Relationships between Leisure Behaviors and Life Satisfaction

35

respondents was of 25–29 (41.0%) and 30–34 was the second large age group (32.7%). Most of the respondents were single (57.4%) with no kids (63.6%). They mostly had junior high school education (60.2%) with average monthly income between $15,001 and $20,000 (55.2%) New Taiwan Dollar (NTD). The main religion of the respondents was Buddhism (98.8%).

Mean and Standard Deviation of the Variables The variables selected in the study include leisure preference (LP), leisure participation in native country (LPN), leisure participation in Taiwan (LPT), leisure constraint in Taiwan (LCT), leisure satisfaction in Taiwan (LST), and life satisfaction in Taiwan (LS). The analysis of the relationships among these variables are presented and discussed in the later section. The mean and standard deviation of these variables are presented as follows: Leisure Preference (LP) The results about the Thai labors’ leisure preferences (most and least preferred) are shown in Table 2. As shown in the table, this study further divided leisure preference into four dimensions: Recreational and Social Activities (RSA), Informative and Artistic Activities (IAA), Perceptual and Leisured Activities (PLA), and Athletic and Physical Activities (APA), and their Cronbach’s a value were all greater than 0.63, suggesting that they had high reliability. Leisure Participation in Native Country (LPN) and in Taiwan (LPT) Table 3 presents the results of Thai labors’ leisure participation analysis in Taiwan and in Thai. By comparing Tables 2 and 3, the results regarding Thai labor’s leisure preference and leisure participation in both countries were similar. In addition, the more the activities were preferred, the higher the participation rates were. However, the leisure participation rates of the respondents in their native countries were all higher than that in Taiwan. Leisure Constraint in Taiwan (LCT) The results of leisure constraint analysis are shown in Table 4. In general, the degrees of leisure constraint felt by the respondents were between 2 and 3 (mean values). ‘‘Did not participate in leisure activity due to distance,’’ ‘‘Lack of convenient transportation,’’ and ‘‘Too busy to participate in leisure activities’’ were the main leisure constraints the respondents had in Taiwan. The three dimensions of the leisure constraints in Taiwan

36

TZUHUI A. TSENG ET AL.

Table 2. Factor Dimension

Recreational and Social Activities (RSA)

Informative and Artistic Activities (IAA)

Perceptual and Leisured Activities (PLA)

Athletic and Physical Activities (APA)

a

Analysis of Leisure Preference (LP). Items

Gathering and dining with friends and families Go shopping Go to church or worship Go to pub Go singing at KTV Go for a picnic Dating Travel Get on to the Internet or go to Internet cafe´s Participate in artistic activities Read Crafting Gather collectables Singing Watch TV and movies Listen to music Go ﬁshing Chat with friends Play video games Clean up living surroundings Sleep Try out great food Cook Play ball games Jogging Swimming Dancing

Meana Standard Cronbach’s Deviation a 3.36

1.01

0.6924

3.55 3.39 2.48 3.32 2.83 3.08 3.70 2.36

1.06 1.02 1.30 1.20 1.14 1.27 1.15 1.23

0.6541

2.63 3.82 3.07 2.94 3.44 3.82 4.26 2.60 3.42 2.62 3.36 4.11 4.17 3.55 3.12 2.85 2.53 2.47

1.15 0.97 1.19 1.21 1.16 1.07 0.95 1.35 1.02 1.29 1.06 0.93 1.04 1.07 1.42 1.13 1.24 1.25

0.6944

0.6308

Likert Scale: 1 ¼ strongly not like, 2 ¼ not like, 3 ¼ neutral, 4 ¼ like, 5 ¼ strongly like.

(Intrapersonal Constraint (ITRPC), Interpersonal Constraint (ITPC), Structural Constraint (SC)) with high Cronbach’s a values (greater than 0.64) indicate that they had a high degree of reliability. Leisure Satisfaction in Taiwan (LST) Findings regarding foreign labors’ leisure satisfaction in Taiwan are shown in Table 5. This study also divided leisure satisfaction in Taiwan into six dimensions, which were psychological (PSD), educational (ED), social (SD), relaxation (RD), physiological (PHD), and aesthetic (AD) dimensions. Each

37

Relationships between Leisure Behaviors and Life Satisfaction

Table 3. Number

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27

Analysis of Leisure Participation.

Item

Gathering and dining with friends and families Singing Go shopping Go to church or worship Watch TV and movies Listen to music Get on to the Internet or go to Internet cafe´s Fishing Chat with friends Play ball games Jogging Swimming Play video games Go to pub Go singing at KTV Go for a picnic Dancing Dating Participate in artistic activities Clean up living surroundings Read Sleeping Try out great food Crafting Cook Gather collectables Travel

Leisure Participation in Native Country (LPN)

Leisure Participation in Taiwan (LPT)

Meana

Standard deviation

Meana

Standard deviation

3.54

1.02

3.06

1.11

3.34 3.45 3.55 3.82 4.14 2.15

1.20 1.03 1.09 1.04 1.03 1.21

3.11 3.34 2.18 3.33 3.94 1.77

1.16 1.04 1.23 1.15 1.12 1.11

2.66 3.53 3.15 2.78 2.52 2.61 2.44 3.17 2.89 2.39 2.96 2.45 3.52 3.73 3.96 4.08 2.99 3.66 2.90 3.50

1.32 1.04 1.40 1.14 1.28 1.30 1.28 1.20 1.13 1.29 1.23 1.19 1.08 1.04 0.99 1.04 1.22 1.04 1.25 1.12

1.93 3.30 2.41 2.30 1.76 2.12 2.37 2.98 2.47 2.15 2.66 1.95 2.88 3.56 3.92 3.50 2.38 2.93 2.54 2.99

1.17 1.09 1.34 1.14 1.09 1.24 1.22 1.25 1.21 1.24 1.37 1.14 1.18 1.11 1.04 1.20 1.27 1.21 1.27 1.26

a

Likert Scale: 1 ¼ never attended, 2 ¼ occasionally attended, 3 ¼ sometimes attended, 4 ¼ often attended, 5 ¼ always attended.

dimension had a Cronbach’s a value greater than 0.74 suggesting that the six dimensions also had a high degree of reliability. Life Satisfaction (LS) in Taiwan Results of the analysis regarding life satisfaction of Thai labors in Taiwan are shown in Table 6. It shows the top three items (‘‘I like myself ’’, ‘‘The company’s living quarter is nice,’’ and ‘‘The company’s superintendent treats

38

TZUHUI A. TSENG ET AL.

Table 4. Factor Dimension Intrapersonal Constraint (ITRPC)

Interpersonal Constraint (ITPC)

Structural Constraint (SC)

a

Analysis of Leisure Constraint in Taiwan (LCT). Item

Meana

Standard Deviation

Cronbach’s a

Too busy to participate in leisure activities Wanted to save money, therefore do not participate in leisure activities that needs to spend money The type of leisure activity differs with personal interest and personality Did not feel like participating due to language difference and difﬁcult to communicate Did not feel like participating due to health and physical reasons Did not have enough skills to participate in the activities that one wanted to participate in Did not participate due to religious reason Did not feel like participating because there was no companion to attend with Did not participate in the activity one wanted to attend due to friends were opposed to it Did not participate in leisure activity due to lack of activity information Did not participate in leisure activity due to distance Not satisﬁed with the location and facilities Did not feel like participating in leisure activity due to safety concerns Afraid of participating in leisure activity because of worrying that the company will be unpleased about it Lack of convenient transportation Did not participate due to cultural difference Did not participate due to the different lifestyle in Taiwan then in the past

3.05

1.05

0.6410

2.91

1.10

2.87

1.14

2.95

1.21

2.68

1.13

2.65

1.09

2.39

1.19

2.77

1.14

2.60

1.10

2.99

1.19

3.16

1.25

2.43

0.95

2.57

1.11

2.63

1.11

3.09 2.50

1.26 1.20

2.83

1.21

0.6887

0.7938

Likert Scale: 1 ¼ strongly disagree, 2 ¼ disagree, 3 ¼ neutral, 4 ¼ agree, 5 ¼ strongly agree.

39

Relationships between Leisure Behaviors and Life Satisfaction

Table 5. Factor Dimension Psychological Dimension (PSD)

Educational Dimension (ED)

Social Dimension (SD)

Relaxation Dimension (RD) Physiological Dimension (PHD) Aesthetic Dimension (AD)

a

Analysis of Leisure Satisfaction in Taiwan (LST). Item

Meana

Standard Deviation

Cronbach’s a

I can freely choose the activity I want to do in my leisure time I like my leisure activity My leisure activity let me have a sense of achievement and conﬁdent My leisure activity is beneﬁcial to my life Leisure activity can help restore my spirit I am completely devoted when doing leisure activity Sometimes my leisure activity can bring me a broader experience Leisure activity helps me understand myself and others Leisure activity provides me a chance to learn new things and satisﬁes my curiosity Leisure activity helps me accept different individuals Leisure activity allows me to express my thoughts, feelings, or other skills Leisure activity helps me establish good social relationships I like to make friends through leisure activities very much I respect my leisure activity companions Leisure activity helps me relax and reduces my stress Leisure activity makes my emotional relationship better Leisure activity makes me healthier and increases my physical strength Leisure activity helps me control my weight and keeps me in shape Leisure activity’s facilities are interesting and clean Leisure activity’s facilities are very satisfying and well designed

3.37

1.05

0.7847

3.43 3.57

0.96 0.98

3.67 3.67 3.58

1.01 0.97 1.01

3.76

1.04

3.78

0.96

3.89

0.97

3.72

0.98

3.65

0.96

3.86

1.00

3.74

0.95

3.95 3.87

0.89 0.94

3.79

0.98

3.69

0.99

3.52

1.01

3.51

0.98

3.40

0.99

0.8034

0.7419

0.7860

0.7799

0.8054

Likert Scale: 1 ¼ strongly disagree, 2 ¼ disagree, 3 ¼ neutral, 4 ¼ agree, 5 ¼ strongly agree.

me fairly’’) increase the respondent’s life satisfaction and the bottom three items (‘‘I like my life in Taiwan,’’ ‘‘My friends will give me a hand when I need help’’, and ‘‘I like to try new things’’) contribute least to the respondent’s life. As discussed earlier, all items were categorized into three aspects deﬁned by the study to understand foreign labors’ life satisfaction in Taiwan. These aspects were of social, life, and work and they all had a high degree of reliability (Cronbach’s a values were all greater than 0.66).

40

TZUHUI A. TSENG ET AL.

Table 6. No.

Social Aspect (SA)

Life Aspect (LA)

Work Aspect (WA)

a

Analysis of Life Satisfaction in Taiwan. Item

Meana

Standard Deviation

Cronbach’s a

I have a lot of friends My friends are very nice to me My friends will give me a hand when I need help There are many joyful things in my life I like myself I get along with my colleagues I like my life in Taiwan I like to try new things I am very good at doing many things The company’s living quarter is nice The company is an interesting place The company’s superintendent treats me fairly My colleagues in the company talks to each other cautiously I feel like the company is terrible (reverse points)

3.49 3.45 3.16

0.96 0.93 1.00

0.7171

3.50 3.71 3.48 3.18 3.03 3.29 3.64 3.45 3.51 3.25

0.97 1.02 0.98 1.05 1.12 0.92 1.04 1.01 1.09 1.00

0.6672

3.26

1.12

0.7296

Likert Scale: 1 ¼ strongly disagree, 2 ¼ disagree, 3 ¼ neutral, 4 ¼ agree, 5 ¼ strongly agree.

Difference in Leisure Participation between in Native Country and in Taiwan Tyrone and Shaw (1997) found that changes in the environment would directly change immigrants’ leisure behaviors. Stodolska (2000) also found that although environment forced people to change their original leisure activities, people would still try to participate in certain activities to which they were used when facing an environmental change. This study conducted paired t-test to examine if there was any difference in leisure activities before and after a foreign labor moved to Taiwan. The results are shown in Table 7. Among the 27 leisure activities surveyed, other than ‘‘go to pub’’ and ‘‘sleep,’’ all other were signiﬁcant to the respondents. This conﬁrmed that changes in the environment would change one’s leisure behavior. ‘‘Sleeping’’ was found not signiﬁcant because the respondents considered sleeping a necessity and would not be taken away by a new environment. However, the respondents did not like to go to pub (leisure preference mean ¼ 2.48) and their ‘‘going to pub’’ activity in their native country (m ¼ 2.44) and in Taiwan (m ¼ 2.37) was about the same suggesting that there was no signiﬁcant difference about such an activity. Activities that the respondents participated more in their native country but less in Taiwan included ‘‘try out great food,’’ ‘‘cook,’’ ‘‘go to church or worship,’’

41

Relationships between Leisure Behaviors and Life Satisfaction

Table 7.

Analysis of the Difference in Leisure Participation between in Native Country and in Taiwan. Leisure Participation in Native Country

Leisure Participation in Taiwan

t-Value

P-Value

3.54

3.06

16.794***

0.000

3.34 3.45 3.55 3.82 4.14 2.15

3.11 3.34 2.18 3.33 3.94 1.77

4.151*** 2.048* 17.050*** 7.172*** 3.430*** 6.255***

0.000 0.041 0.000 0.000 0.001 0.000

2.66 3.53 3.15 2.78 2.52 2.61 2.44 3.17 2.89 2.39 2.96 2.45 3.52 3.73 3.96 4.08 2.99 3.66 2.90 3.50

1.93 3.30 2.41 2.30 1.76 2.12 2.37 2.98 2.47 2.15 2.66 1.95 2.88 3.56 3.92 3.50 2.38 2.93 2.54 2.99

9.795*** 4.417*** 10.998*** 7.585*** 10.661*** 7.394*** 1.015 3.111** 5.871*** 3.921*** 4.207*** 7.294*** 9.954*** 3.261*** 0.827 8.537*** 9.406*** 10.416*** 5.489*** 7.400***

0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.311 0.002 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.001 0.409 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

Gathering and dining with friends and families Singing Go shopping Go to church or worship Watch TV and movies Listen to music Get on to the Internet or go to Internet cafe´s Go ﬁshing Chat with friends Play ball games Jogging Swimming Play video games Go to pub Go singing at KTV Go for a picnic Dancing Dating Participate in artistic activities Clean up living surroundings Read Sleep Try out great food Crafting Cook Gather collectables Travel

*Pr0.05, **Pr0.01, ***Pr0.001.

‘‘gathering and dining with friends and families,’’ ‘‘clean up living surroundings,’’ and ‘‘travel.’’ Therefore, employers can consider offering these types of activities for their foreign labors’ leisure participation.

Examination of Correlations of the Variables Based on the rational structure of this study, a linear structure model was established to analyze the relationships among leisure preference (LP),

42

TZUHUI A. TSENG ET AL.

Table 8.

X2 CMIN/DF GFI RMR RMSEA NFI CFI AGFI

Goodness-of-Fit Test.

Ideal Fit Value

Model Fit Value

W0.05 o3 W0.9 o0.05 o0.05 W0.9 W0.9 W0.9

0.359 1.036 0.957 0.030 0.011 0.960 0.999 0.924

leisure participation in native country (LPN), leisure participation in Taiwan (LPT), leisure constraint in Taiwan (LCT), leisure satisfaction in Taiwan (LST), and life satisfaction in Taiwan (LS). The model ﬁt index is shown in Table 8 and each index is within the acceptable range indicating that the model established is a good ﬁt for the study. Fig. 2 is the correlation pathway of foreign labors’ leisure preference (LP), leisure participation in native country (LPN), leisure participation in Taiwan (LPT), leisure constraint in Taiwan (LCT), leisure satisfaction in Taiwan (LST), and life satisfaction in Taiwan (LS). The results of the analysis are discussed as follows: 1. For LP, a signiﬁcant correlation was found between each factor’s estimated value, and Perceptual and Leisured Activities (PLA) had the strongest correlation with LP, followed by Informative and Artistic Activities (IAA), Recreational and Social Activities (RSA), and Athletic and Physical Activities (APA). 2. For LPN, a signiﬁcant correlation was found between each factor’s estimated value. PLA had the strongest correlation with LPN, followed by RSA, IAA, and APA. 3. For LPT, a signiﬁcant correlation was found between each factor’s estimated value and IAA had the strongest correlation with LPT, followed by PLA, RSA, and APA. 4. For LCT, a signiﬁcant correlation was found between each factor’s estimated value and Intrapersonal Constraint (ITRPC) had the strongest correlation with LCT, followed by Structural Constraint (SC) and Interpersonal Constraint (ITPC). 5. For LST, a signiﬁcant correlation was found between each factor’s estimated value. Relaxation Dimension (RD) had the strongest correlation

43

Relationships between Leisure Behaviors and Life Satisfaction 0.51

0.50

APA

0.34

IAA

0.70*** (11.460)

APA

0.79*** (13.828)

0.75

0.48

PLA

RSA

0.71*** (12.224)

0.71 0.87*** (10.943)

LPT 0.58 0.52

IAA

0.62

PLA

0.47

RSA

0.72*** (10.671) 0.79*** (10.916)

0.13 (1.115)

-0.73* (-2.027)

LP

0.59*** (9.667)

LCT

0.69*** (10.403)

APA

0.50

IAA

0.65

PLA

0.53*** (10.209) 0.71*** (13.5611) 0.81*** (13.872)

0.59*** (5.096)

-0.20** (-2.791)

ITPC

0.34

SC

0.58

RD

0.68

PHD

0.34

AD

0.35

SD

0.40

ED

0.26

PSD

0.33

0.87

LPN

LST

0.582*** (8.314) 0.59*** (7.924)

0.48*** (4.465)

074 0.55

0.76

0.42*** (5.784)

0.86*** (10.069) 0.28

0.76

ITRPC

0.63*** (8.558)

RSA

0.51*** (7.385)

LS 0.73*** (6.845)

0.45

0.83*** (6.773)

SA

WA

LA

0.54

0.18

0.69

Fig. 2.

0.54*** (7.464)

Structure Equation Model.

with LST, followed by Social (SD), Aesthetic (AD), Physiological (PHD), Psychological (PSD), and Education Dimensions (ED). 6. For LS, a signiﬁcant correlation was found between each factor’s estimated value and Life Aspect (LA) had the strongest correlation with LS, followed by Social Aspect (SA) and Work Aspect (WA). Examination of the Hypotheses Based on the pathway coefﬁcients between each variable pathway in Fig. 2, results of the analyses of hypotheses are shown in Table 9 and discussed as follows: 1. The inﬂuence coefﬁcient of LP had on LPN is 0.86 with a t-value of 10.069, both reaching the signiﬁcant level. Therefore, hypothesis H1

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Table 9.

Pathway Correlation and Hypothesis Examination.

Hypothesis

H1: Leisure preference has positive inﬂuence on leisure participation in native country H2: Leisure preference has positive inﬂuence on leisure participation in Taiwan H3: Leisure participation in native country has positive inﬂuence on leisure participation in Taiwan H4: Leisure constraint in Taiwan has negative inﬂuence on leisure participation in Taiwan H5: Leisure constraint in Taiwan has negative inﬂuence on leisure satisfaction in Taiwan H6: Leisure participation has positive inﬂuence on leisure satisfaction in Taiwan H7: Leisure satisfaction has positive inﬂuence on life satisfaction in Taiwan

Pathway Coefﬁcient

t-Value

Hypothesis Accepted

0.86***

10.069

Yes

0.13

1.115

No

0.59***

5.096

Yes

0.73*

2.027

Yes

0.20**

2.791

Yes

0.42***

5.784

Yes

0.48***

4.465

Yes

*Pr0.05, **Pr0.01, ***Pr0.001.

2.

3.

4.

5.

should be accepted suggesting that leisure preference has signiﬁcant positive inﬂuence on foreign labors’ leisure participation in their native country. The inﬂuence coefﬁcient of LP had on LPT is 0.13 with a t-value of 1.115, suggesting that hypothesis H2 should be rejected. Therefore, although a foreign labor’s leisure preference has positive inﬂuence on leisure participation in Taiwan, the inﬂuence is not signiﬁcant. The inﬂuence coefﬁcient of LPN had on LPT is 0.59 with a t-value of 5.096, both reaching the signiﬁcant level. Hypothesis H3 is thus accepted suggesting that leisure participation in native country has signiﬁcant positive inﬂuence on leisure participation in Taiwan. The inﬂuence coefﬁcient of LCT had on LPT is 0.73 with a t-value of 2.027. Both are found signiﬁcant and thus hypothesis H4 is accepted suggesting that leisure constraint in Taiwan has signiﬁcant negative inﬂuence on leisure participation in Taiwan. The inﬂuence coefﬁcient of LCT had on LST is 0.20 with a t-value of 2.791, both reaching the signiﬁcant level. Hypothesis H5 should be accepted suggesting that the leisure constraint a foreign labor has in Taiwan has signiﬁcant negative inﬂuence on his or her leisure satisfaction in Taiwan.

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6. The inﬂuence coefﬁcient of LPT had on LST is 0.42 with a t-value of 5.784, both reaching the signiﬁcant level. Therefore, hypothesis H6 is accepted. A foreign labor’s leisure participation in Taiwan does have signiﬁcant positive inﬂuence on his or her leisure satisfaction in Taiwan. 7. The inﬂuence coefﬁcient of LST had on LS is 0.48 with a t-value of 4.465, both reaching the signiﬁcant level suggesting that hypothesis H7 should be accepted. A foreign labor’s leisure satisfaction in Taiwan does have signiﬁcant positive inﬂuence on his or her life satisfaction in Taiwan.

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS The study found that the leisure activities that foreign labors participated more in their native country in the past are now being less participated in Taiwan. Such activities include ‘‘try out great food,’’ ‘‘cook,’’ ‘‘go to church or worship,’’ ‘‘gathering and dining with friends and families,’’ ‘‘clean up living surroundings,’’ and ‘‘travel.’’ The study also found that there was no difference regarding the respondents’ leisure preference and leisure participation in their native country and in Taiwan. In both countries, the more they prefer the leisure activities, the more they participate. However, their participation rate is higher in their native country. The study also obtained some ﬁndings related to demographic information. Gender, age, marital status, and monthly income all had signiﬁcant inﬂuence on the respondent’s leisure behavior. Religion was also found having signiﬁcant impacts on the psychological dimension of leisure satisfaction. The main reasons for having leisure constraints in Taiwan were structure constraints. The leisure constraints the respondents have also had signiﬁcant negative relationship with their leisure participation and leisure satisfaction in Taiwan. However, the respondents’ leisure participation was found having signiﬁcant positive relationships with their leisure satisfaction and life satisfaction in Taiwan. The important reasons related to leisure and life satisfaction in Taiwan were also found. According to the ﬁndings of this study, a leisure constraint has great inﬂuence on a foreign labor’s leisure participation and leisure satisfaction. Therefore, to improve a foreign labor’s leisure satisfaction and life satisfaction, such leisure constraints need to be removed so that his or her willingness to participate in leisure activities in Taiwan would increase. Although the study found that the higher the leisure preference is, the higher the leisure participation will be, but a foreign labor’s leisure participations in all types of leisure activities in Taiwan are all lower than that in his or her

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native country. This is also because of the leisure constrains encountered and the top three leisure constraints are ‘‘Want to save money, therefore do not participate in leisure activities that needs to spend money,’’ ‘‘Too busy to participate in leisure activities,’’ and ‘‘Did not participate in leisure activity due to distance.’’ However, another constraint that was not found in the study but was suggested in the study of Shieh et al. (1997) was ‘‘the employer did not provide enough leisure entertainment and facility (43.2%).’’ Therefore, based on the ﬁndings and discussions above, some suggestions are being developed: Establish an employee recreation center at or near the foreign labor’s living quarter. The center should offer some equipment and amenities for free use, such as television set, table tennis, exercise bike, and reading materials (books and magazines), etc. An activity bulletin board can be installed by the entrance of the recreation center to provide any information regarding the activities held by the company, city or county government, or community groups. Travel and transportation information and assistance should also be provided to help increase the foreign labor’s desire to participate in the activities. The company can work with the local leisure activity providers and become afﬁliated stores providing preferential plans and recreation package for its foreign labors. The company can sell or distribute daytrip tickets and coupons for special events and can also provide transportations to major leisure locations or scenic areas. It will help reduce a foreign labor’s spending and save more. This joint effort with local activity providers can also beneﬁt both organizations. The activity providers can promote the activities more and the company can save time, energy, and cost on activity planning. In addition, the company may also gain positive social image and reputation. The employer should also assist their foreign labors in managing their time effectively and handle with stress correctly. For example, offering free workshops or seminar classes to teach them how to use their free time in their life effectively, and teach them develop the right skills to release their stress and balance their work and leisure activities. Of course, meanwhile, the employer should try to offer adequate leisure activities for them. Because the study found that a foreign labor’s leisure participation in his or her native country has signiﬁcant positive inﬂuence on his or her leisure participation in Taiwan and there is a difference found regarding engaging in the types of leisure activities before and after a foreign labor come to Taiwan, some cultural activities related or similar to what the foreign labor

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had in his or her native country should be planned and offered. This will help the foreign workers alleviate their homesick feelings and allow them to adjust their values and lifestyle gradually to ﬁt in the new culture. The management should pay more attention to the foreign labor’s welfare because this study found that work aspect of foreign labor’s life satisfaction is low. Although foreign labors will leave Taiwan after their working contracts are expired, the more satisﬁed they are with their work, the less possible they will act negatively toward their coworkers. This is important because it can help improve work relationships, increase the quality of work, and create a more friendly and pleasant work environment for all workers.

LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE STUDY This study used convenience sampling technique to distribute the survey only in the areas where foreign labors often appear (such as train station, nearby stores, and church) and in the factories where they work. To reach a better generalizability, stratiﬁed or random sampling should be adopted in the future study and the foreign labors from other countries should also be included. If time and budget allow, survey should be distributed nationwide. Future studies may also want to address the impacts resulting from the changes in environment, trend, and labor laws and regulations. For example, the task of taking care of foreign labors has changed from fully being the company’s responsibility to an assigned agency. The company will only take care of work-related issues and wage payment and many other issues, such as physical checkup, living needs, and assistance, etc., will be handled by the assigned agency. This change will open a new window of opportunity to study many topics related to foreign labors. In addition, housing-related issues were not considered in the study and they should be studied in the future as they are important for living and have some impacts on a foreign labor’s leisure behavior.

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PERCEPTIONS OF JOB AND HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY CHARACTERISTICS ON CAREER DECISIONS Arjan van Rheede, Debbie Tromp and Robert J. Blomme ABSTRACT This paper reports on the initial results of a case study on management-level turnover in the hospitality industry and on factors inﬂuencing the career decisions of highly educated employees to stay or leave the industry. This issue is considered using an interpretative paradigm and the conclusion drawn is that retaining these employees cannot be ensured by HRM policy alone. Both personal and general career factors are important, strongly inﬂuenced by social aspects. Furthermore, perceptions (deserved or undeserved) of the actual job, as well as characteristics of the industry, are important when deciding to pursue a career either within or outside the hospitality industry.

INTRODUCTION Research studies, both in the Netherlands as well as abroad, suggest that management-level turnover is growing rapidly in the hospitality industry Advances in Hospitality and Leisure, Volume 5, 51–68 Copyright r 2009 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1745-3542/doi:10.1108/S1745-3542(2009)0000005007

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(Hoque, 1999a, 1999b; Reijnders, 2003; Blomme, 2006; Blomme, Tromp, & Van Rheede, 2008; Walsh & Taylor, 2007). More widely set-up research studies carried out in a large number of hotel organizations seem to conﬁrm this tendency (Reijnders, 2003; Blomme et al., 2008; Walsh & Taylor, 2007). From an international perspective, scholars (Blomme, 2006; Blomme et al., 2008; Walsh & Taylor, 2007; Hoque, 1999a) suggest that retaining highly educated staff is a primary challenge for the hospitality industry. Highly educated staff can be deﬁned as employees who have successfully followed a higher education program at a bachelor or master level (Hoque, 1999a, 1999b; Reijnders, 2003; Blomme, 2006). Several research studies on employee turnover have been conducted in other industries (Grandley & Cropanzano, 1999; Bedeian, Mossholder, & Armenakis, 1983), as well as in the hospitality industry (Walsh & Taylor, 2007; Blomme et al., 2008; Hancer & George, 2003). Turnover intention can be approached from various perspectives. Although scholars have described several ways to investigate the predictors of employee turnover intention, three conceptual perspectives to approach turnover intention are often used. One perspective used to examine employee turnover is the concept of the psychological contract (Rousseau, 1989, Robinson & Rousseau, 1994; Robinson, 1996; Milward & Hopkins, 1998; Turnley & Feldman, 1999; Westwood, Sparrow, & Leung, 2001). Conway and Briner (2005) argue that psychological contract violation will reduce commitment to the organization, lower job satisfaction, reduce organizational citizenship behavior, and increase turnover intention and actual staff turnover. In their research into the turnover intention of highly educated employees working in the hospitality industry, Blomme et al. (2008) indicate the importance of violation of some aspects of the psychological contract as predictors for a lack of affective commitment and turnover intention. From another perspective, Deery (2008) points to the importance of the concept of occupational stress as a way of explaining turnover intention. Occupational stress is the transactional process in which stressors, events, or properties of events encountered by individuals cause strain among individuals and lead to outcomes at both an individual and organizational level (Cooper, Dewe, & O’Driscoll, 2001, p. 14). Bellavia and Frone (2005) stipulate that one speciﬁc occupational stress responsible for turnover is work–family conﬂict. A third perspective with regard to turnover intention is the concept of organizational support. Eisenberger, Huntington, Hutchison, and Sowa (1986) deﬁne organizational support as the employees’ feeling that their organization favors them or is committed to them. Research studies have

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argued that a lack of organizational support may lead to an increase in turnover intention (Jawahar & Pegah Hemmasi, 2006; Allen, Shore, & Griffeth, 2003). The perspectives described above when investigating turnover intention mostly use a positivistic perspective (Guba & Lincoln, 1994; Kelemen & Rumens, 2008) and are based on the use of questionnaires for extracting objective data (e.g., see Rousseau, 1989; Ten Brink, 2004; Jawahar & Pegah Hemmasi, 2006; Allen et al., 2003; Chen & Spector, 1992; Grandley & Cropanzano, 1999; Bedeian et al., 1983). Other theoretical perspectives from organization behavior theory, such as discrimination (e.g., see Dion, Dion, & Pak, 1992; Pak, Dion, & Dion, 1991) and organizational climate (Ryan, Schmit, & Johnson, 1996), which are used as a way of predicting turnover intention, are also conducted using a quantitative approach. These perspectives may well offer a better understanding of the phenomenon of employee turnover, but the research outcomes based on a quantitative approach do not answer all the questions related to the subject under study. Moreover, although the quantitative approach in a diversity of studies has led to a better understanding of the phenomenon of employee turnover intention, it has not resulted in a clearer understanding of the meanings, particular experiences, states, events, and objectives that form the basic elements underlying the theoretical concepts used (Kelemen & Rumens, 2008).

Research Approaches The dominant paradigm in Business and HRM research is the quantitative survey approach (Bosalie, Dietz, & Boon, 2005). In a study by Bosalie et al. (2005) into empirical research on HRM and performance, only 5 out of the selected 104 articles could be referred to as qualitative studies and only 2 as mixed studies. Therefore, on the basis of the research outcomes referred to previously, it can be said that earlier research on high-management-level turnover in the hospitality industry is mostly based on quantitative research. This conﬁrms the conclusion drawn by Bosalie et al. (2005) that a lot of HRM research is quantitative. Despite Purcell’s (1999) call for greater use of qualitative methods to examine the relationship between HRM and performance, Bosalie et al. (2005) found only a few studies that were totally qualitative in nature, and even fewer that presented mixed-method results. Interpretative research appears to be a promising way of exploring in detail the career perspectives of individual respondents. Interpretative research can be characterized as a research process in which the respondents

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try to make sense of their world; the researcher tries to make sense of the respondents trying to make sense of their world (Smith & Osborn, 2003). Interpretative research is a method that is descriptive because it is concerned with how phenomena appear, and interpretative because it considers there is no such thing as the uninterpreted phenomenon (Smith & Eatough, 2006). One speciﬁc interpretative approach is interpretative phenomenological analysis. In contrast to the nomothetic principles underlying most quantitative research, interpretative analysis is ideographic, focusing on the particular rather than the universal (Smith, Harre, & Van Langenhove, 1995). In ideographic studies, analyses are derived from the examination of individual case studies (Harre, 1979). Through the examination of individual cases, it is possible to learn something about both the important generic themes in the analysis as well as the narrative lifeworld of the particular participants who have told their stories (Gubrium & Holstein, 1997; Clandinin & Connelly, 2000). Stake (1998) refers to this kind of case as an instrumental case where ‘‘ . . . a particular case is examined to provide insight into issues or reﬁnement of theory’’ (see also Eisenhardt, 1989).

Present Study This research study can be placed in the interpretative paradigm (Burrell & Morgan, 1979) because the focus of this research is to make sense of the actions of the (future) hospitality employees. Research following the interpretative paradigm tries to gain deeper insight into the factors that have an inﬂuence on the decision to stay or leave the industry. We agree with Eisenhardt (1989, p. 536), who suggests that ‘‘the starting point for this kind of research is ideally . . . no theory under consideration and no hypotheses to test,’’ because these factors might inﬂuence or hinder the outcome. Using case studies to build theory, rather than theory-testing research, is gaining more and more recognition (Eisenhardt & Greabner, 2007). Nevertheless, this research approach is still sometimes misunderstood. One way to try and remove some of this misunderstanding is to include criteria with which to evaluate this kind of research. The ﬁrst criterion that needs to be met is that of credibility: there needs to be a conﬁdence that the ﬁndings have a certain ‘‘truth.’’ The next criterion is transferability: the ﬁndings can be shown to have applicability in other contexts. A third criterion to be met is dependability: the ﬁndings are consistent and can be repeated. The fourth and ﬁnal criterion is conformability: the ﬁndings are presented in a neutral way, from the respondent’s perspective, and are not

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affected by researcher bias, motivation, or interest (Lincoln & Guba, 1985; Erlandson, Harris, Skipper, & Allen, 1993). Eisenhardt (1989) advocates comparable criteria for theory building: the study (1) yields a parsimonious, testable, and logically coherent theory; (2) has a good – but not necessarily perfect – ﬁt with the data; and (3) must result in new insights. This leads to the following main research question: What opinion does the respondent have and why do speciﬁc factors relating to an employee’s perspective and beliefs lead to turnover intention and actual leaving the industry?

To prevent this research from being too focused on current knowledge, we will not restrict ourselves to the known factors as given in the quantitative research mentioned above. We will start with a much wider scope, using a more holistic approach to the problem – one that will, it is hoped, generate more solutions that are applicable.

METHODS The research methodology used is a case study (Yin, 1994; Stake, 1998) in which the object is deﬁned as current students and alumni of the Hotelschool The Hague. The Hotelschool The Hague offers a 4-year program that confers a Bachelor of Business Administration degree or a Master of Business Administration degree in Hospitality Management. First the case will be presented, then the interview guide will be described, and ﬁnally the process of analyzing the data will be discussed.

Data To gain more in-depth understanding of the object under study, a group of eight people was chosen who are highly educated employees from the hospitality industry related to the Hotelschool The Hague. This group was chosen because the individuals concerned knew each other before studying at the Hotelschool The Hague, and are also familiar with each other’s careers. Moreover, this group contains a wide variety of career paths, as will be discussed in the Results section later on. For this study, two interviewers conducted six in-depth interviews and one group interview with two respondents. The ﬁrst three interviews and the group interview were conducted by the two interviewers; the remaining interviews were carried out by one interviewer.

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Interview Guide These semi-structured interviews focused on the career paths of fellow alumni. The interview started with a question about their childhood and family, and then dealt with their ﬁrst contacts with the hospitality industry (jobs, etc.) and their school career (secondary school). The interview continued with their motives for studying at the Hotelschool The Hague and for choosing a career in the hospitality industry. The questions aimed to explore the factors that inﬂuence career decisions about staying in, or leaving, the hospitality industry. The themes discussed during the interviews had a broader scope than the psychological contract. This was done deliberately in line with the arguments mentioned above with regard to theory building. Ethical issues were taken into consideration, especially those relating to anonymity and privacy of the respondents.1 All interviews were taped and transcribed. The data were then analyzed, starting with data reduction (coding), followed by a search for patterns and connections in and between the interviews.

Analyzing Data Prior to the collection of data a roughly scaled coding chart was compiled on the basis of the interview questions. Later, during further development and analysis, this chart was supplemented with ‘‘open codes.’’ These open codes are new codes for interesting quotes or extracts that could not be placed under the existing codes (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). On the basis of the codes and ideas that came about during this coding process (registered in research memos), ‘‘axial coding’’ was applied (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). This phase of the research can be summarized as the ordering of codes in ‘‘code families.’’ These code families are umbrella codes for codes with a common subject. During the search for patterns, ‘‘selective coding’’ was applied whereby the codes and categories were reorganized to gain an understanding of the interrelationships between them (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). During this process of data reduction and searching for patterns, specially designed software for qualitative data analysis was used. Currently there are a considerable number of CAQDAS (Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software) programs available. For this paper, the software program Atlas.ti (version WIN 4.2) was used. This program offers many possibilities, but its main advantage is the ease with which sections of text can be coded, and with which they can subsequently be manipulated

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(renamed and grouped). In this way we attempted to create an overview of the data and searched for themes and patterns. The quotes that the codes refer to are taken directly from the interview report. The quotes were translated from Dutch into English. The makers of the Atlas.ti program are strongly oriented toward the grounded theory approach, but the program is equally suitable for a more general interpretative approach (Miles & Huberman, 1994). Results This section begins with a summary of the ‘‘facts and ﬁgures’’ of the case. Then the data collected during the interviews are presented with little interpretation. Next, an account is given of how the analysis was conducted, together with an explanation of the coding system used. The family coding is used as a guiding structure to tell the story of the respondents’ careers and present the patterns found. Background There is no straightforward career path followed by higher educated people in hospitality management. This becomes clear when analyzing the data from our interview period in September and October 2005. The respondents are a group of people who got to know each other at secondary-level hotel school (SHS). All but one continued their education and graduated at the Hotelschool The Hague. It was though one key person that we were able to gain access to the group of friends. The family background of the respondents is not especially hospitality related. One respondent comes from a family who has its own cafe´ (interview 1). Some of them come from a family of entrepreneurs (interviews 3a, 5 and 6). At secondary school they had jobs in hospitality: two started in hotels, other in restaurants or kitchens/lunchrooms. They all refer to these jobs as a good experience. This was partly because a lot of other young people were working there at that time and partly because the work was well paid (compared to other possible jobs such as ‘‘ﬁlling shelves’’ in a supermarket). One interviewee started working for a well-known chain of restaurants and, after 1 year, moved to an ‘‘a` la carte’’ restaurant where the pay was much better. So, after starting at around 15–16 years of age in hospitality, they were already thinking about a career in the industry, or had decided to continue their education at a secondary-level hotel school.

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Table 1.

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Hospitality Status of Respondents, Current State (2005) and Expected Situation in 2010.

Hospitality Status

Current (2005)

Future (2010)

Inside hospitality Female Male

1 2

0 1

Outside hospitality Female Male

3 1

2 4

During their time at secondary-level hotel school, they took two internships. They all had well-founded reasons for the placement they chose. They gained knowledge of the hospitality business during these periods. Two respondents also met their mentor (the general manager of their placement hotel) who helped them with the next step, or offered to make use of their networks. These managers also encouraged the respondents to continue their education at The Hotelschool The Hague. After ﬁnishing secondary-level hotel school, one respondent decided to start working, while most of his friends went on to study at the Hotelschool The Hague. Their motivation for continuing their education at the Hotelschool The Hague was their belief that they could achieve more. Two of the respondents continued their education after graduating from the Hotelschool The Hague; both took a master’s degree, one in hospitality and the other in marketing. Table 1 shows the respondents’ present situation in their working career inside or outside the hospitality industry. Three of the respondents have been working in the hospitality since their graduation from the Hotelschool The Hague. One of these is on his way to a general manager position. The other two are thinking of leaving their current job and moving outside the hospitality sector (one to take up a ﬁnancial position and the other to work as a travel manager with a multinational). The other four worked in the hospitality industry after graduating, but have since changed. One is now working in real estate (family business), another is in education, the third is temporarily working for a banking and insurance company, and the fourth is a stewardess/administrator. Analysis The following code families2 have been constructed and will be used for the next step of the analysis: career (1), characteristics of hospitality (2),

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motivation job/education (3), and social aspects (4). First, the code family career comprises the motives and experiences of respondents when making decisions about career issues such as choosing a certain school, placement, specialization, or choosing to leave or stay with an organization. The code family characteristics of hospitality comprises both organizations/ sector characteristics such as working hours, payment and hierarchic organizations, as well as job characteristics and social working conditions such as high turnover, young colleagues, and teamwork. Motivation job/education comprises choices made concerning another ﬁeld/specialization, higher education, career possibilities, how they view their prospects in the labor market, their dream job, and salary. Social aspects comprise consideration of work versus continuation of education, opinion/experience of a ﬁeld of studies, type of students, personal relations, and family. Making decisions about one’s career is clearly not done in isolation. The opinions and experiences of friends and family are important in this matter. Using these code families, the following themes were identiﬁed. The combination of themes leads to two patterns with regard to staying or leaving the hospitality industry. Themes were found by organizing the data according to the family codings ‘‘career,’’ ‘‘characteristics,’’ and ‘‘social context,’’ arranged in two main patterns. The ﬁrst one is called ‘‘career decisions’’ and the second ‘‘making sense from a task, career and social perspective.’’

Pattern 1: Career Decisions Keeping Options Open and Finding New Fields of Interest People are well aware that The Hotelschool The Hague not only educates for the hospitality industry, but is also a good starting point for a business career. Banks and insurance companies are typical examples of organizations looking for graduates of the Hotelschool The Hague. During their education at secondary-level hotel school, respondents were already introduced to new ﬁelds (such as marketing or ﬁnance, respondent 1 and 8). After secondary-level hotel school, one of the respondents started studying marketing before going to the Hotelschool The Hague on completion of her ﬁrst year. The pattern that we can see is that students in the early phase of their career develop and learn new ﬁelds and this leads them to redeﬁne their future career. This is also true for graduates of the Hotelschool The Hague. After graduation they go on to do an MBA or a master’s degree in marketing. The ﬁrst is an example of ‘‘keeping all your options open,’’ and

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the second is an example of a form of specialization in a newly discovered ﬁeld of interest. Setting a Goal Some people formulated a clear career path (including a milestone). As one of the respondents put it: Once I was at secondary-level hotel school, it soon became clear that I wanted to work in the hospitality industry . . .

It was also clear that he had well-formulated career goals: (to become a general manager before reaching 30), for he says: My goal was always to be Hotel Manager. And I still want to achieve that. I get offered jobs from time to time, but I want to move straight on towards my goal. For example, I get offers from Sales – I am quite commercially – minded. And then . . . Head Ofﬁce asks me whether I would like to come and work there. Quite interesting positions, but a side step for the whole chain. It’s an attractive offer but it would endanger my whole career. (2:15 (125:136))

Bite the Bullet Making a career in the hospitality industry involves hard work; people have to put a lot of effort into the job. It’s a matter of how much you are prepared to do. It’s all up to you. You reach a point where you are giving a great deal for a relatively low salary (that’s biting the bullet). And once you’ve got past that you’ll be alright. That’s the reality. I think there are enough career possibilities, but there are a small number of people who are prepared to bite the bullet. And I think that’s the reason for people leaving the industry. Because you’ve lost your sense of proportion! The starting salaries aren’t all that bad. But all those stories of people working outside the hospitality business make things difﬁcult, because there comes a time when (if you’re young) you fall behind. Is that something the hotel world wants to keep like that? No, they don’t. Young people get out quick. But you can’t do anything about it (as far as salary is concerned). Prices are under pressure and you can’t raise those salaries. They are not ﬁxed artiﬁcially. (2:19 (188:205))

and . . . . . . was F&B-manager with NH hotels for six months, directly after leaving The Hotel School The Hague. That was hard work for little money. The shift work is also a disadvantage. The hotel and catering industry is the only sector where overtime is considered ‘normal’; this was named in one breath together with making a career. I found everything splendid at the beginning too, but when you’re young you ﬁnd it appealing. But later, when I reached the age of 28, I wanted to have the weekends off. I also wanted to have sight of growth, materiel and immaterial. (3:11 (51–56))

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Although decisions on career paths are very personal, it is possible to identify a certain pattern being followed. This analysis is heavily based on the code family: ‘‘career.’’ On the one hand, you can see people who have made a decision and will not be distracted from their goal. On the other hand, there is a group of people who, although preferring a certain direction, like to keep their options open. This group is not prepared to go all the way to reach the top. They easily leave the hospitality industry to continue their career outside, or develop new interests and slowly move away from the hospitality industry.

Pattern 2: Making Sense from a Task, Career, and Social Perspective The decision to stay or leave (or not start) in hospitality also has to do with characteristics of the hospitality business. Although it is obvious that each hotel (and chain) is different, they do have characteristics in common. How the respondents perceive these characteristics varies. The perspectives taken in this sense-making process vary: the task/job may be the main focus, or career ambitions, or social needs. Guest Focus These aspects sound a little stereotypical, and again can be interpreted in different ways. Considerable focus is put on the guest and this makes the work different: a lot is going on, and the primary working process is really visible. Some respondents experience a lot of hierarchy in the hotel organizations, where the work is really organized. This means that departments are run like small islands where the different domains are strictly separated. Low Salaries This aspect concerns job characteristics. The judgments made by the respondents about the variety that hospitality work has to offer are unclear and ambivalent. Some respondents ﬁnd the job variety limited, while others ﬁnd the job variety considerable, because each day is different. The ﬁrst group refers to activities, while the second group refers more to the surroundings and the concept, which are hectic and divergent. Most respondents refer to the poor standard of conditions of employment as well as the low salaries. The people who have stayed in the hospitality industry clearly understand the reasons for this situation: a company in the hospitality business needs to be really efﬁcient if it is going to make a proﬁt. There is little room for high wages and generous beneﬁts. Those who

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left the hospitality industry have found better conditions outside the sector. We may conclude that these perceptions are a mixture of task/job perspectives and career perspectives. Furthermore, there seems to be a considerable difference between the working conditions at the ‘‘back of the house’’ and those at ‘‘the front of the house.’’ The back of the house is unorganized, while at the front everything looks smooth and polished. This was, however, not the experience of all respondents. We can describe this as a task perspective. Finally, respondents also explain that the starting positions are relatively low. The respondent who started working after secondary-level hotel school had a higher position than those of his peers who continued their education at the Hotelschool The Hague. However, he is now a real specialist in his ﬁeld with only a small chance of making promotion. This is why he is considering a continuation of his career outside the hospitality industry. Flexible Working Hours What do respondents say about the social and working conditions? Hospitality is a sector with a high turnover and many young people are employed in it. The ﬁrst contact that most respondents have with the hospitality business is as an employee during secondary school or directly after graduation. The respondents also refer to the teamwork that they consider to be a positive aspect of the hospitality industry. At the start of their careers, respondents had no problem with working irregular hours. But when they reach the age of 28, they have a negative view of the irregular hours. . . . But later, at the age of 28, I wanted to have the weekends off . . .

Females in particular refer to the work–family balance when talking about the ﬂexible working hours: I just don’t believe that I can grow old here . . . Look, at some point I also want a family with children and it will be a lot harder. I just don’t believe . . . I will be able to ﬁnd what I want in my work. I am ambitious, I want to go for it, make a career, it’s a kind of motor, that single-mindedness. But well, I simply don’t believe it’s possible in the hospitality business.

And . . . And if you ﬁnd your prince on a white horse, you take a step back. I just don’t believe you can then continue to make a career for yourself. . . . For example, a girl friend of mine . . . took a step back by going to work part-time. If that’s your ceiling, then I think it’s very quickly reached . . . I think that ultimately you can achieve more at management level in the business world and that I can combine that better with a family.

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What is evident is that the same points are seen as opposites. This has once again to do with sense-making and perception. While one respondent gives the matter of working hours as the reason for leaving, another person who also left her job in the hospitality industry says: . . . The hours are not a reason: I like ﬂexible hours: I’m not looking for a 9 to 5 job . . .

DISCUSSION In the discussion, we will reﬂect on two aspects: ﬁrst, the content of the study, including the factors that inﬂuence the career decisions of highly educated employees; and second, the methodological issues. First, we should stress that employees have to put a lot of effort into reaching the summit of a hospitality organization. Respondents refer to this as ‘‘biting the bullet.’’ This seems to be an important reason for people deciding to leave the industry. They experience career-change opportunities as being better in other industries. This point, together with the issue of ﬂexible working hours, is an important consideration for employees as they get older, particularly in the case of females. The question of work–family balance seems to be a difﬁcult one for the industry to deal with when it comes to retaining highly educated employees. Earlier research from the perspective of occupational stress comes with supportive evidence (Deery, 2008). The work–family conﬂict may lead to poor work–family balance, resulting in psychological strain (Stoeva, Chiu, & Greenhaus, 2002; Bellavia & Frone, 2005). Such strain may have a direct impact on the organization itself, resulting in high absenteeism and employee turnover (Parker & Decotiis, 1983; Chen & Spector, 1992; Grandley & Cropanzano, 1999; Bedeian et al., 1983). One of the industry’s strong points is its focus on guest/hospitality and this primary process. This is important for attracting and retaining employees. This is clearly one of the industry’s strengths and should be used in the process of attracting and retaining personnel. This is in line with the research of Rousseau (1989), Robinson and Rousseau (1994), and Robinson (1996). Blomme et al. (2008) found job content as most important predictor for turnover intention in the hospitality. When reﬂecting on this research study, we wish to stress the importance of extracting the meanings, particular experiences, states, events, and objectives of the respondents. The interpretative perspective used in this study was very useful for gaining an understanding of the career paths of highly educated

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employees. The decisions of young professionals are not only taken on the basis of actual knowledge about certain situations but also according to impressions and images of the hospitality industry belonging to friends/peers and other people in their own social milieu. On various occasions, the respondents would state the same opinions as those of some of their friends. This might also have consequences for HRM policies: image and stereotyping are manifest despite the possible changes in working conditions and career opportunities in the hospitality industry. This element is certainly important, not only for attracting new groups of employees to the hotel industry, but also, we argue, for those already employed in the industry. The issue of image and stereotyping of the hospitality industry is also stressed by Deery (2008). She concluded that improving the quality and quantity of hospitality staff also depends on improving the image of the industry (Deery, 2008). Not only are job and organizational characteristics, already partly tested in quantitative studies, of utmost importance, but also important are the decisions of highly educated employees in the hospitality industry, since they are based on aspects that are not controlled by HRM policy. What needs to be considered is the fact that a certain group of students starts their education at an institute for hospitality management with the intention of not working in the hospitality business. This is particularly important when looking for ways of retaining highly educated employees in the hospitality industry. A further issue worth considering is the perception of the variety of jobs within and outside the hospitality industry. This study indicates that the respondents sometimes refer to this distinction in different ways. A further elaboration of this topic may be important. One example is the question of working as cabin crew in the airline industry: is it a speciﬁc hospitality job and does it belong to the hospitality business? Depending on the respondents’ ideas of the hospitality industry, this may lead to different classiﬁcations. If we look at the methodology used, we wish to stress that the use of a case study approach made it possible to look at the problem in a diversiﬁed way. The used design makes it possible to discuss not only one’s own career with the interviewees but also the careers of the other respondents. The respondents know each other. One disadvantage of our design is that the respondents give a retrospective view of their own career. When being asked to make sense of their own career motives and beliefs, the respondents may well have changed their views between the actual decision and the one taken at the time of the interview. We agree with Tierna, Flood, Murphy, and

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Carroll (2002) that retrospective analysis based on memory can be both unreliable and inaccurate. But researchers can take appropriate measures to enhance the quality of the data. In our study, we used multiple sources in the collecting and analysis of the data.

CONCLUSION The ﬁndings in this paper give a ﬁrst insight into the sense-making processes of alumni of hotel schools concerning their career paths inside or outside the hospitality industry. In addition, the paper offers insight into why some of these factors from an employee’s perspective lead to turnover intention and their leaving the industry. We argue that the choices described in this group, and their experiences in hospitality, are recognizable and illustrative of a larger group of highly educated people in the hospitality industry. Personal drive, together with a speciﬁc mix of personal characteristics, social factors (career of partner and family–work balance), and job and industry characteristics, is interpreted by the employee in a social context. Perceptions of the actual job and industry characteristics – deserved or undeserved – are therefore important when choosing a career to pursue in or outside the hospitality industry. This may be seen as a threat to industry in general, but also as an opportunity for hotels in particular. This stereotyping may well ‘‘scare’’ some people away from the industry, but also opens a way for speciﬁc hotels to differentiate themselves. This research study shows that, by using a more holistic approach that incorporates HRM issues, useful insights can be gained into the motives behind staying in or leaving the hospitality industry. We recommend that more in-depth data be gathered and other subgroups researched. As we have already stated, this qualitative study needs follow-up interviews to explore the discerned patterns further. The interviews should include other subgroups of highly educated employees, as well as other stakeholders.

NOTES 1. There is no institutional review board present in our institute, but ethical issues of the research study were taken into consideration. 2. Apart from these, there are also code families on (5) childhood family, (6) remarks on education, the Hotelschool The Hague/selection, (7) impact of the Hotelschool The Hague education on hospitality career. These codes have, however, not been taken into consideration during the analysis made in this article.

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RECREATION CONFLICT OF PARTICIPANTS IN DIFFERENT MODE OF WATER-BASED ACTIVITIES AND THEIR ADOPTION CHOICE Chung-Chi Wu, Ching-Tang James Wang, Hsiou-Hsiang Jack Liu and Wei-Ching Wang ABSTRACT The purpose of this article is to explore the three types of water-based recreationists’ (nonmotorized, motorized, and dual participants) perception on recreation conﬂict as well as their use of coping mechanisms and further understand the inﬂuence of specialization level on their choice of coping mechanism. Recreationists were divided into three groups based on the concept of experience use history. Data were collected between June and September 2007 at entry of ﬁve intra-site water recreation areas with every ﬁve individuals selected. Study ﬁndings partly supported the predictive relationships. Among all three groups (motorized, nonmotorized, and dual participants), less conﬂict was reported for nonmotorized participants than motored participants. Moreover, the data also suggest that coping mechanisms are widely employed in outdoor recreation. Implications for future research and practice were discussed. Advances in Hospitality and Leisure, Volume 5, 69–87 Copyright r 2009 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1745-3542/doi:10.1108/S1745-3542(2009)0000005008

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INTRODUCTION Within limited resources, the rapid growth of demand for outdoor recreation has caused an increasing use level. When participants in different activity groups interacted, conﬂict may occur (Lee, 1997; Joan, 2002). Perception of crowding or conﬂict may highly inﬂuence on the overall satisfaction of recreationists. Since providing opportunities for quality outdoor recreation experiences and still preserving resources concern issues for park managers, conﬂict problems between users are gaining management attention (Todd, 1993). Although intensive and fundamental recreation conﬂict research and management were issued in the past few decades (Schneider, 2000; Manning & Valliere, 2001), conﬂict problems still occur, especially when various and technology-advanced recreation activities are introduced. This could be an impediment to enhance the quality of outdoor recreation experiences and management ability. The asymmetrical phenomenon in recreation conﬂict has been revealed in conﬂict-related researches, especially between traditional and new-technological activities and between nonmotorized and motorized activities (Adelman, Heberlein, & Bonnicksen, 1982; Vaske, Carothers, Donnelly, & Baird, 2000; Vaske, Dyar, & Timmons, 2004). Although a few studies have also noted the potential for in-group conﬂict resulting from recreationists engaging in the same activity (Vaske et al., 2000; Thapa & Graefe, 2004), conﬂict between different activities is receiving more attention. Out-group conﬂict was obviously found in much research by exploring behaviors of participants in two different types of activities. Out-group related researches often divided individuals into two groups (e.g. hiker vs. mountain-biker or skier vs. snowboarder). This can introduce problems in understanding conﬂict (Watson, Zaglauer, & Stewart, 1996; Carothers, Vaske, & Donnelly, 2001) because many recreationists participate in multiple activities. To segment recreationists in a more objective way, the concept of experience use history (Schreyer, Lime, & Williams, 1984; Manning, 1999) has been demonstrated in past studies to be an important concept to employ in categorizing customers, especially recreationists. In this study, experience use history (EUH) was used in categorizing respondents into three groups: nonmotorized, motorized, and dual participants. To manage outdoor recreation conﬂict and maintain the quality of outdoor recreation experiences, education and zoning are two general strategies recommended (Carothers et al., 2001; Manning, 1999). Another way to remain relatively high visitor satisfaction even when conﬂict occurs is

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the adoption of coping mechanisms (Schneider & Hammitt, 1995). In Manning’s (1999) review and synthesis of the literature on coping in outdoor recreation, it is suggested that displacement, rationalization and product shift are three primary coping mechanisms utilized by outdoor recreationists. The purpose of this article is to explore the three types of water-based recreationists’ (nonmotorized, motorized, and dual participants) perception of recreation conﬂict as well as their use of coping mechanisms. A goal also understands the inﬂuence of specialization level on adoption of coping mechanisms. To achieve the goals of the research: (1) recreationists are divided into nonmotorized, motorized, and dual participants based on the concept of experience use history; (2) difference among these three groups regarding recreation conﬂict and their adoption of selected coping mechanisms are examined; and (3) inﬂuence of specialization level on choice of coping mechanism is examined.

Recreation Conﬂict Although recreation related conﬂict has been extensively studied, ‘‘there has never been agreement on how recreation conﬂict should be measured’’ (Watson, 1995, p. 237). A single item of question was used in some studies to measure perceived conﬂict (Ramthun, 1995; Wang & Dawson, 2000). Others have examined the extent to which respondents ﬁnd encounters with other recreationists to be desirable or undesirable or examined whether there is any goal or enjoyment interference (Thapa & Graefe, 2004; Watson, Williams, & Daigle, 1991; Watson, Niccolucci, & Williams, 1994). There are studies focusing on normative beliefs about unacceptable behaviors measured with multiple items of questions (Vaske et al., 2000, 2004; Vaske, Needman, & Cline, 2007; Carothers et al., 2001; Vitterso, Chipeniuk, Skar, & Vistad, 2004). Generally speaking, multiple items of questions can avoid possible error caused by single-item measurement. Recreation conﬂict can be divided into in-group and out-group conﬂict. Although some investigations have explored in-group recreation conﬂict, which occur among individuals engaging in the same activity (Vaske et al., 2000; Thapa & Graefe, 2004), literature of conﬂict has generally shown that out-group conﬂict was more obvious because recreationists are more intolerant of individuals participating in different activity with themselves than those in the same one (Jackson & Wong, 1982; Gibbons & Ruddell,

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1995; Vaske et al., 2000). Out-group recreation conﬂict is often asymmetrical. Participants in one activity may object to the behavior of participants in another activity, but the reverse is not to the same degree. Asymmetrical conﬂict often occurs between traditional and new-technological activities or nonmotorized and motorized activities such as skiers and snowboarders (Vaske et al., 2000, 2004); paddling canoeists and motorboaters (Adelman et al., 1982), oar-powered and motor-powered whitewater rafters (Shelby, 1980), and hikers and mountain bikers (Ramthun, 1995; Carothers et al., 2001).

Coping in Outdoor Recreation Coping is generally deﬁned as ‘‘any behavior, whether deliberate or not, that reduces stress and enables a person to deal with a situation without excessive stress’’ (Sutherland, 1996). In outdoor recreation, a number of coping mechanisms have also been identiﬁed. These include behavioral coping mechanism, displacement, and cognitive coping mechanisms such as rationalization and product shift. Although many studies have focused on the coping behavior triggered by problems of crowding, in the context of recreation conﬂict, recreationists may also adopt coping mechanisms to deal with conﬂict problems (Schneider & Hammitt, 1995). In some studies concerning water canoeing, it was found that the vast majority of respondents changed their pattern of use such by selecting different entry days or points due to increasing use level, litter, noise, and environmental impacts (Anderson, 1980; Anderson & Brown, 1984). Among the three coping mechanisms, Displacement is a behavioral shift that involves spatial or temporal changes in use patterns in response to problems. Inter-site displacement is shifting from one recreation site to another. Intra-site displacement is shifting within a recreation site. Temporal displacement is shifting from one time period to another. Activity displacement is shifting from one activity to another are four patterns that may be used. In other words, displacement can manifest itself in multiple ways. Rationalization is the second coping mechanism suggested in outdoor recreation. Since recreation activities may involve a substantial undertaking of time, money, and effort investment, people can refuse to be easily disappointed. To reduce cognitive dissonance, some people report high levels of satisfaction to rationalize an experience that an objective observer would not classify as so highly satisfying. Finally, Product shift is another cognitive coping mechanism that involves in an altering of deﬁnition of the recreation opportunity to be consistent with the condition experienced.

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Segmentation of Activity Group: Experience Use History It is possible that as people are involved regularly in outdoor recreation activities, some of them engage in multiple activities. Recreationists who involve in more than one type of activity thus appear. This type of recreationist did not gain much attention in the past researches. There was Carothers et al.’s (2001) investigation of hikers and mountain bikers. It was recognized in their study that conﬂict reported by dual participants was found consistently between the other two extremes. However, respondents were divided into dual participant if they have any experiences in both activities without considering their past experience or frequency of participation. Therefore, more objective ways need to be used for segmentation. To categorize customers or recreationists, the concept of experience use history (Schreyer et al., 1984; Manning, 1999) has been demonstrated in past studies to be an important concept. For example, Petrick, Backman, Bixler and Norman (2001) employed the concept of EUH as segmentation criteria to classiﬁed golfers. They found different behaviors among them based on the EUH classiﬁcation. Based on above review of previous researches, we advanced the following hypotheses: H1. Different activity groups (motorized, nonmotorized, and dual participants) make different evaluations of conﬂict. H2. Different activity groups adopt different level of coping strategies. Adoption of Coping Mechanisms and its Effecting Factor: Recreation Specialization Recreationists may range from novelists to experts. In past few decades, many outdoor researches have shed lights on the construct of recreation specialization. This concept is used to distinguish both participants engaging in both a single activity and various typologies (Donnelly, Vaske, & Graefe, 1986; Miller & Graefe, 2000; Vaske et al., 2004). Based on recreation specialization theory (Bryan, 1977; Ditton, Loomis, & Choi, 1992), it can be expected that those with well-developed skills, large investments, and more experience are less likely to make a displacement decision. Some studies have identiﬁed that level of past experience, frequency of participation, skill level, and monetary investment were important to

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individuals’ willingness to make a displacement (Vaske, Donnelly, & Heberlein, 1980; Snow, 1980; Manfredo & Anderson, 1987; Hammitt, Backlund, & Bixler, 2004). Particular patterns of experience preferences are likely to have inﬂuence on recreationists’ willingness to make a displacement. For example, in a study concerning recreational ﬁshing, Ditton and Sutton (2004) have identiﬁed the activity-speciﬁc motivations for ﬁshing which might lead recreationists to be less willing to involve a shift from the original activity to another activity. The importance of ﬁshing was negatively related to willingness to displace. Another study concerning the inﬂuence of activity importance and similarity on perception of recreation displacement for ﬁshing activity, has shown that 95% of the participants were willing to ﬁsh in another but similar setting when the original place was not be available (Manfredo & Anderson, 1987). It is consistent with the ﬁndings of that compared to the group of ﬁshing ‘‘regulars’’ or ‘‘insiders’’ who have a strong emotional attachment to a speciﬁc activity, ‘‘strangers’’ and ‘‘tourists’’ who could identify another outdoor activity or another place more easily. Specialization could become useful in identifying recreationists’ affecting feelings toward a particular activity or place (Kuentzal & McDonald, 1992; McIntyre & Pigram, 1992). Therefore, experienced or specialized participants may be less likely to identify another outdoor activity or place that would provide them with the same satisfaction or enjoyment. On the other hand, there are studies that identify the positive relationship between level of experience and their displacement behavior. Vaske et al. (1980) found that more experienced recreationists can be more sensitive to any changes on the setting or activity, thus, they were likely affected by any change around recreational settings and tended to have displacement. Schreyer and Lime’s (1984) ﬁndings suggested that individuals with more experience are more likely to engage in more problem-focused coping strategies such as displacement and avoidance. On the other hand, the knowledge base of experienced or expert recreationists would offer them more information about places for displacement. Hall and Shelby (2000) found a higher proportion of displacers among highly experienced visitors as well as non-displacers among relative newcomers. Thus, more experienced recreationists are thought to perceive greater knowledge of alternatives, but at the same time are more prone to be displaced (Havitz & Dimanche, 1997, 1999; Watson et al., 1991; Hammitt et al., 2004). They are more likely to have temporal or resource displacement. However, the relationship was not signiﬁcant. Anderson (1981) has suggested that the relationship between past experience and displacement of recreationists was not signiﬁcant because of their attachment to a speciﬁc place. Therefore, the

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actual inﬂuence of past experience on displacement behavior remains unclear although the relationship between the two was conﬁrmed. Another inﬂuence of specialization may be employing rationalization. For example, Heberlein and Shelby (1977) have found that people with higher investment in time, money, fees in a recreational trip might refuse to report dissatisfaction. While in another study (Manning & Ciali, 1980), respondents with small investment in their trip seem more likely to report unsatisfactory experience. These ﬁndings implied that individuals might try to change their perception for their experiences when facing unexpected problems, especially those involving more within an activity. Based on above review of previous researches, we advanced the following hypothesis: H3. Recreationists with high level of specialization will be more likely to adopt coping strategies.

METHOD Study Location and Sampling The study reported in this paper was conducted at Kenting National Park, Taiwan. Kenting National Park, located at the southern tip of Taiwan is one of the most popular places for water-based activities, attracting millions of both domestic and foreign tourists every year. However, zoning that keeps powered boat activities away from powerless activities is not well implemented in this area. Multiple uses of a speciﬁc area by different types of activities could usually be observed. The most common water-based activities in Kenting are surﬁng, swimming, snorkeling, water scooter, and speedboat. Other types of activity such as ﬁshing in a boat, wind surﬁng, are seldom seen here. Self-owned yachts and powerboats that could carry large numbers of people are not popular here. Therefore, in this case, we want to focus on only a few activities including motorized activities (water scooter and speedboat) and nonmotorized (surﬁng, swimming, and snorkeling) activities. Data were collected between June and September 2007. On-site surveys were distributed on randomly selected days (including three weekdays and two weekends) at entry of two intra-site water recreation areas and received at the exits. At the entry of recreation areas, every ﬁfth individual was selected. Of the 700 surveys distributed on-site, 440 usable questionnaires were received (response rate ¼ 62.8%).

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Measurement Segmentation of Recreationists To segment recreationists in a more objective way, two questions including: (1) how many total times they participate in nonmotorized and motorized water-based activities last year, (2) how many total years they had participated in nonmotorized and motorized water-based activities, were used to divide respondents into nonmotorized, motorized, and dual participants. In order to account for various combinations of above questions, an index ratio was computed (Hammitt et al., 2004). An account for total score was computed for each recreationist by summing their years with the frequency last year of nonmotorized water-based activity participation and then divided into low and high groups on the median value of the sum. Medians were used as the bases of segmentation rather than means because of some outlier values for some extremely experienced recreationists. The same procedure was done for the years and frequency of motorized participants. Three combinations of low and high levels of EUH on motorized and nonmotorized were identiﬁed including: Motorized participants (n ¼ 62): Recreationists with high scores in motorized and low in nonmotorized activities. Nonmotorized participants (n ¼ 155): Recreationists with high scores in nonmotorized and low in motorized activities. Dual participants (n ¼ 233): Recreationists with high scores in both motorized and nonmotorized activities and those with low scores in both kinds of activities. Measurement of Conﬂict Given the suggestion of Vaske et al. (2007) that more indicators of potential conﬂict problem situations are needed further exploration, prior to this study an open-ended question was asked for recreationists to identify potential conﬂict problems caused by motorized/nonmotorized water-based recreationists. Findings were induced into ﬁve speciﬁc items to ask if motorized/nonmotorized water-based recreationists: (a) made a lot of noise, (b) drove or played with unacceptable speed (too fast or slow), (c) cut others off, (d) were not keeping an adequate distance from others, and (e) made negative impact to environment. Respondents indicated how often these behaviors were seen on this trip. Response categories were: (1) never, (2) rarely, (3) sometimes, (4) frequently, and (5) almost always.

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Measurement of Coping Mechanisms The items contained in this part were asked to measure the number of coping mechanisms adopted by respondents in dealing with conﬂict on this trip. Items include a variety of questions designed to test for spatial and temporal displacement, rationalization, and product shift. These statements of coping behavior were adapted from previous studies (Hammitt & Patterson, 1991; Robertson & Regula, 1994; Manning & Valliere, 2001). Statements are shown in Table 4. Measurement of Recreation Specialization Measurement of recreation specialization was adapted from previous studies (Bricker & Kerstetter, 2000; Lee & Scott, 2004) with three dimensions. The ﬁrst dimension, behavior, was addressed by asking respondents about the number of trips of water-based activities taken last year, their overall equipment investment and their overall water-based activity related expenditures. The second dimension, skill and knowledge, was addressed through four separate questions. Respondents were asked to rate their skill level, ability of operation, ability to deal with uncertain circumstance, and knowledge level. The ﬁnal dimension, commitment, was measured using four questions employed by Lee and Scott (2004) to reﬂect the rejection of alternative activities and the costs associated with ceasing participation. All of these items were measured using a ﬁve-point response format. Analysis Analysis of study data was conducted on both descriptive and analytical levels. Descriptive ﬁndings indicate the categories of respondents as well as the level and type of coping mechanisms adopted by respondents. One-way analyses of variance were then used to compare the means of in-group and out-group recreation conﬂict by three kinds of recreationists. Linear regression analysis was used to determine the extent to which adoption of coping mechanisms is statistically related to place attachment and recreation specialization.

RESULTS Of the 440 responses, about 86% of the respondents were under the age of 35 years and most of them were male (55.3%). Of the three types of

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Table 1.

Item Means and Reliability of the Conﬂict Scale. Item Mean

Normative beliefs about Problem motorized participants behaviora Made a lot of noise Drove with unacceptable speed Cut others off Were not keeping an adequate distance Had negative impact on environment Problem nonmotorized participants behaviorb Played with unacceptable speed Cut others off Were not keeping an adequate distance Had negative impact on environment a

Cronbach Alpha

0.86 3.22 3.33 3.38 3.08 3.63 0.80 2.48 2.31 2.40 2.79

Measured with Likert-type format, where 1 ¼ strongly disagree and 5 ¼ strongly agree. Measured on a scale, where 1 ¼ very bad and 5 ¼ very good.

b

respondents, dual participants had participated in their activities more frequently (M ¼ 6.6 per year) and longer (M ¼ 6.2 years) than had the other two groups. The average costs they invested in the equipment and related expenditures per year were about 63 and 107 USD, respectively. Participants of motorized water-based activity invested the most in their equipment (M ¼ 127 USD per year), while dual participants spent the most on related expenditures (M ¼ 150 USD per year). The Cronbach’s alpha coefﬁcient of recreation conﬂict for both motorized and nonmotorized participants are above 0.80 (see Table 1). Cronbach’s alpha for the items in recreation specialization is given in Table 2. The alphas for skill and knowledge (0.85), behavior (0.60), and commitment (0.88) in recreation specialization are all above 0.60.

Adoption of Coping Mechanisms Table 4 shows the cumulative number of coping mechanisms employed by respondents. It can be found that only 5% of respondents did not use any of the coping strategies stated in this study. These data show a pervasive use of coping mechanisms across the sample. Many respondents even chose to adopt more than one coping mechanism when in circumstance with recreation conﬂict.

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Table 2.

Item Means and Reliability of the Recreation Specialization Scale. Item Mean

Skill and knowledgea Subjective skill level Subjective ability of operation Subjective ability to deal with unexpected circumstance Subjective knowledge level Commitmentb Other activities do not interest me as much as water-based activities If I could not involve in water-based activities, I am not sure what I would do If I stopped water-based activities, I would probably lose touch with a lot of my friends I would rather involve in water-based activities than do most anything else Behavior How often do you take a trip of water-based activities last year?c How much did you spend on equipment investment?d How much did you spend on water-based activity related expenditures?d

Cronbach Alpha 0.85

2.77 2.89 2.91 2.94 0.88 2.88 2.44 2.44 2.89 0.60 2.18 3.11 2.64

a

Measured on a scale, where 1 ¼ very bad and 5 ¼ very good. Measured with Likert-type format, where 1 ¼ strongly disagree and 5 ¼ strongly agree. c Measured on a scale, where 1 ¼ never and 5 ¼ very often. d Measured on a scale, where 1 ¼ none and 5 ¼ very much. b

Responses to the adoption of each coping mechanism are shown in Table 4. Statements 1 through 4 describe use of the coping strategies of displacement. As suggested in the literature review, displacement can include temporal, spatial, and activity ones. Thirty-seven percent of the participants responded in temporal displacement, while 25.2% in activity displacement. Spatial displacement behaviors included shifting use to other place within the same site (intra-site displacement, 54.2%) and shifting use to other place out of the original site (inter-site displacement, 30.2%). Responses to statements 5 and 6 describe use of the cognitive coping mechanisms of rationalization. More than 35.5% of respondents engage the mechanism of rationalization in that their use of the place has not changed much, but they are not as satisﬁed with their experiences. More than 43.2% of the respondents reported the use of product shift, which means they believe the type of experience provided by the place has changed although their use of this place has not changed a lot (Tables 3 and 4).

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Table 3. Cumulative Number of Coping Mechanisms Adopted. Number of Coping Mechanisms Adopted

Cumulative Percent

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

5.0 18.4 42.5 62.7 80.0 90.5 94.8 96.4 100.0

Table 4.

Adoption of Coping Mechanisms.

Statement

Response (%)

1. I go here for water-based activities at another time 2. I go other place within Kenting area for water-based activities 3. I go other place away from Kenting area for water-based activities 4. I do other leisure activities at the same place 5. I still stay at the same place, but I am not as satisﬁed with my experience here 6. Since I had been here, I accept it 7. I still stay at the same place, but the type of experience provided by this place has changed 8. I think use level of this place is not as low as before

Yes

No

37.0 54.2 30.2 25.2 40.0

63.0 45.8 69.8 74.8 60.0

35.5 43.2

64.5 56.8

49.1

50.9

Evaluation of Conﬂict and Adoption of Coping Mechanisms among Different Groups Consistent with hypothesized, we found signiﬁcant differences among motorized, nonmotorized, and dual participants for unacceptable behaviors of motorized participants (F ¼ 4.14, p ¼ 0.02). The post-hoc (least signiﬁcance difference, LSD method) comparisons suggested that the main differences in perceived conﬂict occurred between nonmotorized and dual participants in which the conﬂict evaluation of nonmotorized participants toward motorized participants is signiﬁcantly higher than dual participants’ evaluation. Moreover, although not signiﬁcant in the post-hoc comparisons,

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Table 5.

Different Activity Group Inﬂuences on Conﬂict Evaluations. Conﬂict Evaluation for Motorized Participants

Conﬂict Evaluation for Nonmotorized Participants

A. Motorized participants B. Dual participants C. Nonmotorized participants

3.37

2.65

3.23 3.45

2.49 2.43

LSD test F-value p-value

CWB 4.14* 0.02

1.56 0.21

*po0.05.

the conﬂict evaluation of nonmotorized participants toward motorized participants is also higher than motorized participants themselves. These ﬁndings indicate that nonmotorized participants reported more unacceptable behaviors for motorized participants than fellow motorized participants. This is congruence with previous studies that out-group conﬂict is found more obviously than in-group conﬂict. It is interesting that the conﬂict evaluation toward motorized participants by dual participants is lower than expected and even lower than fellow motorized participants. On the other hand, although the mean score of conﬂict evaluation for nonmotorized participants ranged from high to low are motorized, dual, and nonmotorized participants as hypothesized, no signiﬁcant differences were found among motorized, nonmotorized, and dual participants for unacceptable behaviors of nonmotorized participants (F ¼ 1.56, p ¼ 0.21). However, these data show that motorized participants will be more likely than nonmotorized and dual participants to experience conﬂict when evaluating nonmotorized water-based activities. In general, out-group conﬂict is found more obviously than in-group conﬂict (Table 5). For the adoption of coping mechanisms, signiﬁcant differences were found in different activity groups only in the adoption of displacement (F ¼ 3.87, p ¼ 0.02). The post-hoc (LSD method) comparisons suggested that the main differences in the adoption of displacement occurred between motorized and the other groups. That is, motorized participants tend not to adopt displacement to cope with conﬂict problems than the other two groups. It was recognized in the study that coping mechanisms adopted by dual participants was found between the other two extremes (see Table 6).

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Table 6. Different Activity Group Inﬂuences on Coping Mechanism. Overall Coping

Product Shift

Displacement

Rationalization

A. Motorized participants B. Dual participants C. Nonmotorized participants

2.87 3.14 3.25

1.03 0.94 0.85

1.10 1.47 1.61

0.74 0.73 0.79

LSD test F-value p-value

1.03 0.36

1.19 0.31

B,CWA 3.87* 0.02

0.35 0.71

*po0.05.

Table 7.

Relationships between Specialization and Adoption of Coping Mechanisms. Overall Coping

Product Shift

Displacement

Rationalization

b-value Skill and knowledge Commitment Behavior

0.21 0.14 0.07

0.20 0.14 0.04

0.12 0.09 0.06

0.07 0.03 0.04

R-squared F-value

0.02 3.58*

0.02 3.19*

0.01 1.39

0.00 0.43

*po0.05.

Relating Specialization to Adoption of Coping Mechanisms Linear regressions were used to explore relationships between specialization and adoption of coping mechanisms (Table 7). The ﬁrst regression analysis explored specialization and the overall coping mechanisms, while the second series of regression analyses were used to explore the construct and adoption of subsets of coping mechanisms: displacement, rationalization, and product shift. Responses to the eight items of coping mechanisms were added to a cumulative index so that the higher the index scores, the more coping mechanisms were adopted. Linear regression equation was statistically signiﬁcant, however, only 2% of the variation in adoption of overall coping mechanisms was explained by two dimension of specialization: ‘‘skill and knowledge’’ (b ¼ 0.21) and ‘‘commitment’’ (b ¼ 0.14). Similar results were found for subset coping mechanisms of product shift (2%, b ¼ 0.20 and 0.14, respectively). The higher the level of respondents’ skill and knowledge as well as their commitment to water-based activities, the more likely they

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were to adopt coping mechanisms. As we found in previous studies, more experienced recreationists were more sensitive to any changes on the setting or activity, thus, they are more likely to engage in more problem-focused coping strategies such as displacement and avoidance. On the other hand, the broader knowledge base of experienced or expert recreationists would also offer them more information about ways for coping.

DISCUSSION This paper examined conﬂict reported by motorized, nonmotorized, and dual participants and further explored the inﬂuence of their specialization level on the adoption of coping mechanisms. As technological advances change the ways in which people enjoy the outdoors, they also introduce more potential problems for recreation conﬂict given that they may (Schneider, 2000; Vaske et al., 2004), especially when new activity groups share the same resources with traditional recreationists. Based on this research, motorized and nonmotorized water-based activities are practical examples for the conﬂict between new technological and traditional activity players. First, unlike previous work, respondents in this study were segmented further according to their past experiences into motorized, nonmotorized, and dual participants. Study ﬁndings supported the predictive relationships. Among all three groups, less conﬂict was reported for nonmotorized participants than motored participants. When evaluating motorized activity behavior, nonmotorized participants were more likely than motorized and dual participants to experience conﬂict (Hypothesis H1). To the extent conﬂict existing for nonmotorized water-based activities, motorized and dual participants were more likely than nonmotorized participants to report unacceptable behaviors (Hypothesis H2). In congruence with previous research (Jackson & Wong, 1982; Gibbons & Ruddell, 1995; Vaske et al., 2000; Carothers et al., 2001), higher perceptions of conﬂict were reported by respondents engaging in different activities (out-group conﬂict), while dual participants fell in between the other two extremes. The asymmetrical conﬂict between motorized and nonmotorized activities suggested by past studies was also revealed in this paper. Nonmotorized participants were found to report higher perception of conﬂict to motorized participants than vise versa. Second, the data suggest that coping mechanisms are widely employed in outdoor recreation. Various choices were adopted by recreationists. In this research, adoption of any of the eight mechanisms stated in this study ranged from 25.2 to 54.2%. In an overall perspective, 95% of respondents

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employed more than one coping mechanism. Some of them even employed all three types, namely, displacement, rationalization, and product shift, to avoid or reconcile conﬂict problems. It is noteworthy that the adoption of coping mechanisms may help recreationists remain their satisfaction when encountering unacceptable conﬂict problems, but also that too much coping may result in diminished diversity of outdoor recreation opportunities as mentioned by Manning and Valliere (2001). For example, displaced users may shift their use to previously low-use times or places, so that the use level of these times or places may increase and they are no longer identiﬁed as ‘‘low-use.’’ Without proper conﬂict management strategies, conﬂict may occur in these new areas. Therefore, to reduce the level of recreation conﬂict should be a fundamental objective for park managers. Third, due to the range of past experience and skill levels among all the respondents, the inﬂuences of recreation specialization on their adoption of coping mechanisms were examined. Results revealed that only the dimensions ‘‘skill and knowledge’’ and ‘‘commitment’’ of specialization were signiﬁcant predictors for the adoption of coping mechanisms. These indicate that level of recreationists’ skill, knowledge, and commitment may slightly inﬂuence their willingness to adopt coping mechanisms. Individuals with better-specialized level may be more sensitive to conﬂict and thus be more likely to engage in more problem-focused coping strategies. Their broader knowledge base may also help them to seek for adequate coping strategies. Although signiﬁcant relationships are found between specialization and coping behaviors, low percentage of variance explanation suggests that there shall be more factors inﬂuencing the adoption of coping mechanisms by recreationists and needed further exploration. For example, Anderson (1981) suggested that the relationship between past experience and displacement of recreationists may not be signiﬁcant because of their attachment to a speciﬁc place. Finally, as this study was conducted within a national park, problem of recreation conﬂict may be more troubling at a broader level. Although promotion of recreational activities in national parks seems to make many efforts on economic aspect, it deserves more concern in the compatibility between ecological and economical objectives of park management. Reviewing recreation literature, zoning, and education are two general strategies suggested to deal with conﬂict (Thapa & Graefe, 2004; Vaske et al., 2007). In this research, we found that conﬂict problems caused by motorized participants are generally reported as higher, especially for their negative impact on the environment. We think that not only education programs have to be continued, but also zoning combined with rotated (Pigram & Jenkins, 1999) or limited use of motorized activities can be

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considered, especially in areas with precious and vulnerable resources to ensure the balance between recreational use and natural resources.

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BEST PRACTICES IN SUSTAINABILITY: GERMAN AND ESTONIAN HOTELS Philip Sloan, Willy Legrand, Heli Tooman and Joachim Fendt ABSTRACT It is widely recognised that hotels, as important members of the global tourism value chain, have negative impacts on the environment. Many hoteliers feel the adoption of environmental measures is expensive, with little commercial beneﬁt. A further obstacle to improving hotels’ green credentials is the perception that adapting staff attitudes and management operations to become more environmentally friendly is too complicated and produces only negligible results. The present study aims to create a snapshot of best practices in sustainability in the hospitality industry adopted by eleven hotels in Germany and Estonia. It also aims to contrast the development of sustainable management systems in these two European countries with different economies and cultures.

INTRODUCTION Would you prefer a new towel or will you be using this one again? The hotel bathroom saying is to be found across the planet and has become a standard Advances in Hospitality and Leisure, Volume 5, 89–107 Copyright r 2009 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1745-3542/doi:10.1108/S1745-3542(2009)0000005009

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operating procedure. But should consumers believe that a hotel takes the environment seriously from broadcasting this traditional bathroom routine? If not, then when exactly can a hotel be considered to be environmentally sustainable? Just a decade ago the term ‘green business strategy’ evoked visions of fringe environmentalism and a high cost for minimal beneﬁt. Now that perception has changed companies now realise that a strategy good for the world can also be good for the bottom line. Green business strategy is no longer an option; the future depends on it (Harvard Business Review [HBR], 2007, front cover page). ‘Whether you’re in a traditional smokestack industry or a ‘clean’ business like investment banking, your company will increasingly feel the effects of climate change. Even people skeptical about the dangers of global warming are recognizing that, simply because so many others are concerned, the phenomenon has wide-ranging implications’ (Lash & Wellington, 2007, p. 94). The above-mentioned statement demonstrates that global warming has become a serious issue for the health of our planet. The key issue is, due to public discussion and media pressure, the ‘green’ movement has become an important topic. ‘Greening’ is no longer a minority interest but is now one of the most important issues of this century. Additionally, this assumption indicates that world economies and individual businesses will have to increase the sustainability of their operations. The concern about negative impacts of hotels continually grows. The hospitality industry does not count amongst the great polluters such as the metallurgical or chemical industry. However, the size and rapid growth of the industry make it clear that environmentally sustainable action is necessary in hotel management (Stipanuk, 2002). Furthermore, the researchers maintain that pursuing a ‘green’ strategy has great business potential particularly in highly competitive industries such as the hospitality industry. As different industries and businesses adopt ‘greener’ strategies, the hospitality industry will have to follow, simply because those companies will also request their business partners to adopt a ‘greener’ attitude (Go & Pine, 1995). The primary aim of this research paper is to highlight and contrast best, environmentally sustainable practice in the Estonian and German hotel industry. These two European countries have vastly different economies and cultures. Germany is a European economic powerhouse while Estonia a new developing economy (Eurostat, 2008). The secondary aim is to show that ecology and economy no longer require tradeoffs and demonstrate that business advantages can be achieved by pursuing ‘green’ strategies. The hospitality industry is not the ﬁrst one would imagine when considering pollution, waste, greenhouse gases and environmental hazards.

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The heavy industries such as manufacturing, energy production, steel industry, oil production or chemical industry spring more quickly to mind. Grove, Fisk, Pickett, and Kangun (1996) support this assumption when stating that the demand for greening is much more acute in industries where the pollution is actually visible. This argument seems reasonable; however, Grove et al. (1996, p. 58) refute this hypothesis by saying that ‘ . . . while the processes that are reﬂected as service products may be intangible, perishable and consumed as they occur, they often involve the support of a wide spectrum of physical components and reliance on natural resources’. Many researchers (Grove et al., 1996; Bohdanowicz, 2005) emphasise the importance for hotels to reduce their impact on the environment as they count amongst the greatest polluters and resource consumers within the service industry. Bohdanowicz (2005) illustrates her argument by saying that a normal hotel annually releases between 160 and 200 kg CO2 per square metre of room. Moreover, guests consume between 170 and 360 litres of fresh water per night and produce 1 kg of extra waste. Individual hotels, especially major hotel chains, which constitute a large percentage of rooms worldwide, have a signiﬁcant potential to decrease their impact on the environment. Moreover, large hotel brands have the ﬁnancial capacity to invest in technology. Additionally, hotel chains have the opportunity to introduce environmental policies on a corporate strategic level and therefore reduce the environmental impact on a large scale (Bohdanowicz, 2005). Over the past decade there has been a ﬂurry of information made available by governmental organisations, hotel groups and scholars for hoteliers wishing to improve their environmental performance. One of the publications is the Environmental Action Pack for Hotels created by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP). The action pack aims to help hotel managers and owners improve their approach to environmental management. It encourages the use of action checklists for all hotel departments, selfaudits and concrete guidelines for development. The action pack is the result of collaboration between the UNEP, the International Hotel & Restaurant Association (IH&RA) and the International Hotels Environmental Initiative (IHEI). The IHEI’s Charter for Environmental Action in the International Hotel and Catering Industry also provides practical guidance for the industry on how to improve environmental performance while contributing to successful business operations. The IH&RA, together with the UNEP and the International Association of Hotel Schools (EUHOFA International), has produced a complete information pack for developing and expanding the environmental curriculum in hotel schools. This teaching pack is designed to

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raise environmental awareness, to support in developing and implementing environmental management systems (EMS) and to serve as a resource handbook. Even though international legislation concerning pollution has been strengthened and accreditation for improved environmental performance in hotels, such as that offered by Viabono in Germany, has expanded, only a few examples can readily be found of hotels using signiﬁcant EMS particularly in the sector covering privately owned and operated hotel properties. The best way forward for such hotels wishing to improve their environmental proﬁle is to start with a checklist system as mentioned above. In turn, a self-audit of all operational practices will produce a corrective action plan that can lead to environmental certiﬁcation. Certiﬁcation is not an end in itself but it is often considered an important promotional tool for hotels wishing to promote their efforts in sustainability. Internationally recognized EMS accreditation schemes include the International Standards Organization (ISO) 14001 standard and the European Union’s Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), both of which certify sustainable hospitality operations in all European countries (Watson & Emery, 2004). The Green Key eco-label widely certiﬁes Estonian hotels but not German hotels at the moment (FEE, 2007). While ISO 14001 and EMAS accreditation systems are rooted in the manufacturing sector (Font, Yale, & Tribe, 2001), but have clear applications in the service industry, the Green Key eco-label focuses particularly on the tourism and hospitality sector (FEE, 2007). In a recent cooperation between the Agence de l’Environnement et de la Maıˆtrise de l’Energie (ADEME, a French, publicly funded organisation in charge of supporting research projects related to sustainable resources management) and Union des Me´tiers et des Industries de l’Hoˆtellerie (UMIH), a joint venture was created with the goal of developing a common approach for environmental protection and sustainable development in the hospitality sector. This action is particularly related to coffee houses, hotels, restaurants and nightclubs (ADEME, 2007). Ultimately, the UMIH wish to create the general objective of encouraging hospitality operations to integrate the management of environmental issues in their particular spheres of activity. An environmental charter is also planned covering the various technical and methodological aspects. Adhering to the charter should then facilitate obtaining European accreditation such as EMAS. In Germany, the organic food and drink certiﬁcation organization Viabono (created in 2002) is supported by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (Bundesamt fu¨r Naturschutz or BfN), Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservations and

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Nuclear Safety (Bundesministerium fu¨r Umwelt, Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit or BMU) and the Federal Ministry for Economics and Technology (Bundesministerium fu¨r Wirtschaft und Technologie or BMWi).

LITERATURE REVIEW What Makes Hotels Environmentally Sustainable? The term ‘sustainability’ was ﬁrst used in the Brundtland Report (United Nations, 1987). Their deﬁnition of ‘meeting the needs of present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ has become the most widely acceptable. Sustainable business practice is about maximising business potential without degrading the environment and working harmoniously with society. Lockyer (2007) deﬁnes ‘green hotels’ in this way. The American association, Green Hotels, is committed to promoting ecological consciousness in the hospitality industry and provides a more resource oriented deﬁnition: ‘green hotels are environmentally sustainable properties whose managers are eager to institute programs that save water, save energy and reduce solid waste while saving money to help protect our one and only earth’ (Greenhotels, 2007). Similar to the Green Hotels’ deﬁnition, various researchers (Mackie, 1994; Faulk, 2000; Webster, 2000) have previously identiﬁed three key operating areas in which hotels can improve their environmental performance, namely energy, water and waste. Energy Stipanuk (2002) deﬁnes energy as ‘electricity, fossil fuels, water and sewage, certain vehicle fuel and in some instances purchased steam, hot water and chilled water’. Energy costs usually count for four to six per cent of hotel’s revenue and the trend has been driven upwards over the past few years (Stipanuk, 2002). The accumulated cost of energy for the American hospitality industry revolves around 3.7 billion US dollars. Swarbrooke and Homer (2007) underlined Stipanuk’s (2002) claim that ‘energy costs are one of the largest non-staff cost items on a hotel’s proﬁt and loss account’. Webster (2000) claims that energy-saving initiatives can be clustered into three chronological orders, namely short term, mid term and long term. Short-term savings (payback time below one year) can be achieved without vast capital investment (Webster, 2000). Those initiatives include switching off the lights and heaters when not in use or when ﬂoors are not occupied.

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This is especially true for hotels that are located in tourist areas with high seasonality. Mackie (1994) emphasises that those short-term energy-saving initiatives can be achieved only when staff are committed to perform in a sustainable way and do not necessitate extensive advance planning. In this situation, payback is instantaneous. Mid-term energy-saving initiatives require a more sophisticated approach. In terms of operating technology, Webster (2000) proposes a series of initiatives to gain mid-term energy savings (payback time between one and ﬁve years), including replacing light ﬁttings, insulating the roof, posing closing devices on doors, ﬁtting all radiators with individual thermostats and implementing an on-going staff training plan in energy management. Of the above-mentioned measures, lightings in a large hotel property can generate considerable cost savings. Lighting costs may account between 15 and 25 per cent of hotels’ electricity consumption and between 25 and 30 per cent of the total energy cost (Greenhotelier, 2003). According to Baker (2005), the long-term savings are identiﬁed as requiring investment in technology and therefore with a longer payback time (ﬁve years and more). Webster (2000) proposes ﬁve initiatives in order to enhance energy efﬁciency: (1) the installation of a computer-controlled air conditioning system, (2) the installation of double glazing, (3) the installation of an energy-efﬁcient kitchen, (4) the purchase of fuel-efﬁcient refrigeration, and (5) the purchase of fuel-efﬁcient transport. Depending on the geographical location of the hotel, heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) can account for up to 50 per cent of a hotel’s total utility cost (Baker, 2005). Modern air-conditioning systems consume 30 per cent less energy than a 20year-old system and are capable of reusing the heat to preheat water for laundry or swimming pools (Greenhotelier, 2004a). Another area involving critical cost and environmental impact is the hotel kitchen. A kitchen can consume approximately 15 per cent of a hotel’s entire electricity and fossil fuel (Greenhotelier, 2005a). While technology, such as the use of convection ovens and induction hobs, is surely a step in the right direction, Greenhotelier (2005a) argues that an environmentally sustainable hotel policy, as well as staff training on energy-saving behaviour, can contribute vastly towards energy savings. A card-swapping device at the entrance of the guestroom that can connect or disconnect all electrical as well as heating and ventilation systems is the most effective room energy-saving device. Water Water is also considered a source of energy (Stipanuk, 2002). Water is in fact a crucial resource for the hospitality industry due to its scarcity and its

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role in a number of activities such as laundry, food production, bathrooms and outdoor facilities (Baker, 2005). Webster (2000) argues that only ﬁve per cent of a hotel’s overall water is utilised for eating and drinking while the larger part is used for cleaning (including showering, bathing, laundry and dishwashing). Stipanuk (2002) adds that regulations regarding water use will tighten in the future and hoteliers will have no other options than to introduce water-saving policies and technologies to further reduce consumption. Guestrooms account for over 35 per cent of water usage in large hotels (cited in Webster, 2000). Webster (2000, p. 90) argues that ‘general estimates are that guests use only 10 per cent of the total bedroom water poured and that the rest is used by the chambermaids during cleaning’. Similar to the short-term energy reduction strategy, staff training is essential when contemplating decreasing water usage. As reported by Baker (2005), various simple technologies are available to support lower water usage such as (1) water ﬂow controllers, (2) faucet aerators and (3) push button-activated showers in public areas. Good water management can result from staff training and motivation. Tasks such as washing vegetables should always be done in bowls than under running water. Defrosting should be done overnight rather than directly with water. Finally, many hotels have introduced water conservation initiatives in the laundry department, which has sparked controversy. While hotel guests have become increasingly aware of environmental issues and are willing to cooperate, many ﬁve-star luxury hotels refuse to request guests to use the same towels and linen over several days stating that guests are reluctant to apply reuse programmes (Greenhotelier, 2005b). Clear communication is essential to avoid misunderstanding between the intended environmental initiative and guest comfort. Waste Baker (2005, p. 71) maintains that ‘ . . . costs can be greatly reduced by waste reduction and replacing conventional waste disposal activities with practices aiming for reuse, disassembly, recycling and composting’. Proper waste management is a cost-cutting measure as well as an environmental impactreducing measure. Four categories of waste creation can be identiﬁed (Baker, 2005): (1) as a result of site clearance; (2) throughout the operational life of a hotel; (3) during refurbishment and (4) at the end of the building’s life or if there is a change in use. However, Baker (2005) states that the majority of waste will be created throughout the operational life of a hotel. As such, waste management systems should be implemented at a very early stage of hotel development. The four ‘r’ system of reducing, reusing,

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recycling and recovering has gained increasing attention over the past decade (Webster, 2000; Stipanuk, 2002; Greenhotelier, 2004b). Minimizing waste starts in the procurement department, ensuring that only products with a minimal packaging are acquired (Stipanuk, 2002). Working with suppliers that have a proper environmental policy in place is also necessary. The increase in price of raw materials can immediately make a recycling and reusing programme more attractive (Webster, 2000). With this brief overview of the technologies and initiatives that bear the potential to improve the use of resources in the three key areas (energy, water and waste), the question remains: When exactly can a hotel be considered environmentally sustainable? The search for an answer leads us to survey the current best practices in two European countries, Germany and Estonia. Following a vigorous environmental protection movement triggered in Germany over 30 years ago, and in a time when the organic food industry is booming (Tagesschau, 2006), the German hotel industry is gradually moving in line with other sections of society. Estonia has a distinctive natural environment and has taken active steps towards protection over the past decade by ratifying the Convention on Biological Diversity and adhering to the pan-European nature conservation network Natura in 2000 (Keskkonnaministeerium, 2005a). The Estonian National Strategy on Sustainable Development (SE21) is clearly focused on sustainability for the long-term development of the Estonian state and society until the year 2030 (Keskkonnaministeerium, 2005b). The general development principle of the country is ‘to integrate the requirement to be successful in global competition with a sustainable development model and preservation of the traditional values of Estonia’ (Keskkonnaministeerium, 2005b). Estonia, along with other European countries, has adopted the Green Key system as an internationally recognised eco-label for environmentally conscious businesses (VisitEstonia, 2007a). Though the Green Key eco-label is voluntary, it has received notable attention amongst hotel companies, Europe ranking third in Green Key labels behind The Netherlands and Denmark.

METHOD The study was undertaken by the Department of Hospitality Management at the International University of Applied Sciences Bad Honnef – Bonn, Germany, in partnership with the Department of Tourism Studies, at Pa¨rnu College of the University of Tartu, Estonia. These two countries were

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studied speciﬁcally for their economic and political backgrounds and their respective approaches to sustainable development. The hotels were selected according to strict criteria pertaining to their sustainable management history, reporting, labelling and general recognition in the ﬁeld of sustainable management. This research utilised a case study approach as a method of obtaining data. The case study was chosen as a way to undertake a contextual analysis of similar situations in multiple organisations. Eleven hotels were selected as the units of analysis for theoretical as well as practical reasons based on the following criteria: (a) the hotels must either have received or be in the process of applying for a recognised national or international accreditation in the ﬁeld of EMS; (b) the hotels must be convenient in terms of location to undertake the interviews and (c) the hotels must have approval from owners to share business information and obtain access to primary data. The size and type of ownership of the hotel was not taken into consideration. The researchers selected hotels which respect the standards of at least one of the following recognised international accreditation systems: the ISO 14001 standard, the EMAS, and Green Key eco-label. Both ISO 14001 and EMAS are widely known applications of EMS (Font et al., 2001). Both the Green Key eco-label and the Viabono label have also been selected due to their focus on tourism and hospitality businesses, with criteria including environmental management, communication and training. For a country to work with the Green Key eco-label, a national organisation undertaking the accreditation tasks of individual businesses must be a member of the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE). Similarly, the Viabono label is the German umbrella label for sustainable tourism and accommodation supported by the European eco-label. The researchers utilised semistructured, face-to-face interviews as a method of research. This method, providing more focus than the conversational approach, allows a degree of freedom and adaptability in getting information from the interviewee (Clark, Riley, & Wilkie, 1998). The list of hotels where interviews took place can be found in Table 1. Two of the hotels interviewed did not possess, at the time of writing, an approved accreditation system but were selected due to their current reputation across the industry regarding their EMS and philosophies. Following an expert panel review of the interview questions, the interviews were conducted with one key informant: either the general manager of the hotel or the responsible manager in charge of environmental matters. Data collection was conducted in spring 2008. During the interview, detailed notes were taken. A decision not to use a tape recorder

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Interviewed Hotel Name, Location and Accreditation System.

Hotel Name and Location Radisson SAS, Tallinn, Estonia Tervise Paradiis SPA-Hotel & Waterpark, Pa¨rnu, Estonia Pu¨haja¨rve Puhkekeskus, Otepa¨a¨, Estonia Waide Motel, Elva, Estonia The Premier Hotel Victoria, Freiburg, Germany O¨kotel, Hamburg, Germany Scandic Lu¨beck, Lu¨beck, Germany Villa Schaaffhausen, Bad Honnef, Germany

Accreditation System ISO 14001 Green Key Green Key Green Key EMAS In process In process Viabono

by the interviewer was based on the intrusiveness of a recording device (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). Several methods exist for analysing and interpreting qualitative data as identiﬁed by Kvale (1996). The speciﬁc objectives of the study are to: (1) create a snapshot of best practices in regard to sustainable management systems; (2) identify the driving inﬂuential factors towards the adoption of sustainable practices; and (3) assess the perceived economic advantages of sound sustainable practices in these hotels. In order to achieve the aforementioned objectives, the interview was divided into four general themes, identiﬁed from the expert panel review, working as a guiding tool. The ﬁrst part of the interview covered the general approach to environmental issues, classiﬁed as motivation and initiatives. The second component of the interview attempted to ﬁnd out information on consumers and communications. The third section identiﬁed issues surrounding energy conservation, water and waste management. Finally, the fourth part of the interview expanded on the various marketing strategies.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION The Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications reports a constant growth in the expenditures made by overnight visitors and length of stay in accommodation establishments (MKM, 2007). The increase in number of visitors undeniably adds pressure to the ecosystem of a destination. In the Estonian case, the natural environment is perceived as

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a great attraction, as supported by the national tourism authorities (VisitEstonia, 2007b) and considered by many tourists as the motivation for travelling. The Estonian Parliament was one of the ﬁrst in the world to adopt the Sustainable Development Act in order to create a basis on which sustainable development strategy can be developed and implemented (Environment and Sustainable Development Statistics Service, 2006). In 2001, Estonia started with Green Key eco-certiﬁcation scheme. The very ﬁrst certiﬁcates were issued in 2002, and 20 hospitality properties are now certiﬁed (VisitEstonia, 2007c). More than 182 enterprises are currently accredited with ISO 14001 in Estonia and 2 with EMAS (Peglau, 2007). There are no hotels in Estonia currently accredited with EMAS; only one property has been awarded with ISO 14001 compared with 23 in Germany (Peglau, 2008). Germany has a long established hotel industry. Although it does not have a substantial incoming tourist market, the industry is highly diversiﬁed catering for the business customer and for the health and outdoor pursuit desires of primarily domestic short-break travellers (Conrady & Buck, 2008). The total revenue of the industry in 2002 amounted to over 32 billion euros (Hotelier, 2003). According to a survey conducted by Viabono, a national sustainable tourism certiﬁcation agency, 75 per cent of German holidaymakers say that experiencing nature is a major holiday motive and the demand for countryside vacations is steadily growing. Germany, with its 14 national parks, 13 biosphere reserves and more than 100 nature parks, offers enormous possibilities to experience nature (Viabono, 2008). In conjunction with the German National Tourist Board, Viabono has done much to make the German countryside more accessible to tourists in a sustainable way. Secondary research shows that there are three key areas (energy, water and waste) where hotels can save resources and decrease the impact on the environment. Due to the scope of the interview questions, only Method of the questionnaire, covering best practices in energy conservation, water and waste management, is covered in this section, which answers the researchers’ ﬁrst research objective to create a snapshot of best practices in regard to hotel sustainable management systems. Of the 11 hotels originally selected, the researchers have not used the ﬁndings of 3 of the German hotels but have instead chosen to present their environmental initiatives in Table 2. In order to cover all topics surrounding the environmental initiatives, interviews were performed with two members of each hotel chain, one being the technical expert and the other the sales and marketing professional. The results presented in Table 2 conﬁrm two

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Table 2.

Additional Initiatives of the three German Hotels.

Energy

Hilton, Munich Park

Energy

Partner of the DEHOGA ‘Energiesparkampgane’ External energy consulting company is improving the hotel’s energy management Energy consumption tracking Combined heat and power unit is planned Day/night modus Energy efﬁcient lighting

Water

Waste

Water consumption tracking Rainwater collecting tank is planned Waterless urinals in back of the house areas Bio water installation Waste separation All organic waste is sold to a local biogas plant Particular attention is given to kitchen waste

Holiday Inn, Munich City Centre (IHG)

Arabella Sheraton Grand Hotel, Munich (Starwood)

Energy management system Energy efﬁcient lighting

Member of the ‘O¨ko Proﬁt’ program, Munich Property Management System

Movement sensitive lighting Key card holder

On demand air condition

Latest air-condition technology Solar panels for pool heating planned

Light emitting diodes (LEDs) Combined heat and power unit Energy management system is planned Towel and linen reuse program Low ﬂow water taps and showers

Low ﬂow gadgets in water taps and showers

Waste separation Reﬁllable soap dispensers Particular attention given to kitchen waste

Energy efﬁcient lighting

Waste separation Kitchen waste is specially separated Organic waste is sold to a local biogas plant The hotel donates things to non-proﬁt organization which it would otherwise throw away

Source: Fendt (2007).

sets of secondary research ﬁndings: (1) there are three key areas where technological enhancements can improve the operating efﬁciency of a hotel, namely energy, water and waste; and (2) there are many technological products available that can improve a hotel’s operating efﬁciency. While the efforts these hotels are making deserve close attention, the quest of the researchers was to seek out examples of state-of-the-art, best practice.

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Energy Best Practices While end-of-pipe efﬁcient technology, such as light sensors, thermal protection insulation windows and energy-saving light bulbs, has become normal practice in accredited hotels, the best innovative practices are to be found in the areas of energy conservation and generation. The Radisson SAS Tallinn (ISO 14001) is currently developing a building management system (BMS) to facilitate the integration of various energy-saving subsystems throughout the hotel, which can be managed centrally. The BMS offers favourable energy savings for the property by switching on or off energy-intensive activities such as ventilation, heating and cooling according to a time and requirement schedule. Through monitoring and controlling light ﬁttings and air-conditioning units, the BMS will offer beneﬁcial energy savings each month. The daylight-dependent lighting system uses sensors to measure the brightness in the room and reduces the luminous ﬂux of the lamps so that a predeﬁned lighting level is always maintained. The Premier Hotel Victoria Freiburg (with EMAS accreditation), has built up energy-generating systems based on renewable sources, including sun, wind, water and timber, supplying itself with emission-free power. The hotel has installed a solar power plant on the roof of the hotel, which generates approximately 7000 kilowatt-hours of solar power per year, fulﬁlling a quarter of the hotel’s annual electricity requirement. The Premier Hotel Victoria Freiburg invested in a local wind power plant to ensure constant supply of renewable energy. The solar plant ensures a constant supply of hot water on sunny days for the entire hotel guests’ requirements. A wood-pellet heating system was installed in 2002 to meet central heating and hot water requirements of the 63-room hotel. The pellets consist of wood from local sustainable Black Forest region. Eco-electricity is the only option currently practised by the Tervise Paradiis Spa Hotel & Water Park in Pa¨rnu (with Green Key eco-label). The Premier Hotel Victoria Freiburg buys eco-electricity with a small surcharge from suppliers who support the installation of additional renewable local power generators. The O¨kotel Hamburg focused its energy conservation effort at the design stage employing the principles of eco-architecture. The building was built to low-energy-house standards by including the use of natural, environmentally friendly, high heat insulation material. The roof of the hotel is entirely insulated with cellulose (a recycled paper-type insulation). In a similar way to the Premier Hotel Vitoria

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Freiburg, the O¨kotel Hamburg produces energy using a photovoltaic (solar) system.

Waste Management Best Practices The management of waste must follow strict legislation in both countries, whether it is the sorting of waste or the creation of collection stations for glass, aluminium, paper or organic waste. The emphasis is also on hotel properties to create new ways of ‘waste avoidance’. All accredited hotels interviewed have implemented waste sorting stations. The Pu¨haja¨rve Puhkekeskus Otepa¨a¨ (with Green Key eco-label) is planning to invest in a new compressor that will allow for a reduction in environmental impact due to the transport of waste. The Premier Hotel Victoria Freiburg focuses on activities surrounding waste avoidance that include the use of dosing system for cleaning agents used in the hotel as well as a series of reﬁllable dispensers for in-room toiletries. All paper utilised in the hotel, including toilet paper, paper towels, napkins and ofﬁce stationery, is made from quality recycled paper. All packaging materials are returned to the suppliers while other special wastes, including metal and paint wastes, are taken to the city’s recycling point. The Waide Motel Elva (with Green Key eco-label) actively promotes its waste management activities and informs guests on their active role in reducing, reusing and recycling waste. The Scandic Lu¨beck has been renovated with sustainable, natural and recyclable materials where possible. Low volatile organic compound (VOC) paints and ﬁnishes are used. VOCs are carbon-based molecules (organic compounds) used in a wide range of products, which under normal conditions vaporise and hence termed as the ‘volatile’ component. A high concentration of VOCs, found in some paints, contribute to poor indoor air quality and present health hazards. The O¨kotel Hamburg eliminates all polyvinyl chloride (commonly abbreviated as ‘PVC’) from pipes and electric circuits. PVC is considered to be one of the most proﬁtable by the chemical industry and a health hazard that requires vast amounts of non-renewable resources by multiple pressure groups. The Villa Schaaffhausen (Viabono) manages waste reduction from the purchasing perspective whereby the hotel and restaurant complexes have created organic gardens providing a variety of ingredients used daily in their food and beverage operations, thus reducing the reliance on purchased products requiring road transport. The use of the property’s garden as a source for fruit and vegetables has a direct impact on waste management, particularly in the area of packaging handling reduction.

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Water Consumption and Conservation Best Practices The secondary research indicates that reusing wastewater can reduce the need for fresh water by 50 per cent (Greenhotelier, 2006). All interviewees agreed that the use of waste water is very difﬁcult due to hygiene concerns and that improperly treated wastewater can be a threat to health. Considering that water is a valuable resource, the best practices involve the reduction of consumption. The Radisson SAS Tallinn utilises low-ﬂow water taps and showers as well as low-ﬂush toilets. The hotel employees are trained to ensure that water is not unnecessarily contaminated during the washing and cleaning activities. Cleaning agents are environmentally friendly and phosphate-free. The Premier Hotel Victoria Freiburg has placed ergonomically shaped bathtubs requiring 30 per cent less water than the traditional bathtubs. The courtyard of the hotel is paved but unsealed, allowing rainwater to seep through hence reducing unnecessary load on the rainwater drainage system. The O¨kotel Hamburg has built a system that uses rainwater, rather than treated fresh water, for ﬂushing toilets.

CONCLUSION Literature provides evidence that there are many technologies, initiatives and processes that bear the potential to increase the operational efﬁciency of a hotel. Nevertheless, the Hilton, Holiday Inn and Arabella Sheraton hotels in Munich have stated that due to budget limitations the key characteristic for implementing ‘green’ technologies or initiatives is proﬁtability. This point of view does not concur with the other hotels interviewed. According to two of the Munich hotels, staff attitudes and the confusing number of eco-labels are other factors preventing progress. Of all the hotels questioned, only one hotel was clearly motivated to acquiring competitive advantage from sustainable hotel management systems. All the other hotels reported that both cost savings and increased market share have been achieved even though the payback period for environmentally friendly technological initiatives is considered long in some cases. In Estonia, the results of cost saving are pronounced. Hotels report large reductions in energy and water consumed; also sorting trash has helped to reduce costs and guarantee stable prices for the clients. Generally, nearly all the hotels report increase in market share since adopting sustainable practices. Indeed, the manager of the Premier Hotel Victoria Freiburg reported that 1000 extra bed-nights are sold each year as a result. All the

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hoteliers agree that a ‘green’ business strategy means more than simply increasing the proﬁts for their companies. ‘Greening’ goes beyond the concept of competitive advantage because it implies beneﬁting the environment and society. All the Estonian hotels are convinced in sustainable and nature-friendly economic planning. They all believe that green thinking adds positive value to the hotel and that it can create a good reputation and act as a guarantee of good service. None of the German hotels expressed this notion so strongly. Another conclusion that can be drawn is that hoteliers are not yet under regulatory pressure from legislature. There are no laws that restrict or punish hotels for their emissions or waste production although this situation seems set to change. Despite varied responses from industry experts there is much proof in literature that employees play a key role in the success or failure of a ‘green’ business strategy. Especially in the labour-intensive hospitality industry this factor plays a crucial role. Even though much academic research has been carried out in the ﬁeld of ‘green’ consumer behaviour, the main characteristics of ‘green’ hotel guests are still not clear.

Recommendations Research has revealed that technology can lead to competitive advantages (Porter, 1985) although hotels need to make sure that the technologies and initiatives they claim being environmentally sustainable, keep their promise before putting into place a green marketing policy. The use of cards inviting guests to keep their towels for an extra day lays hotels open to being accused of ‘greenwashing’ and can damage their valuable brand image. The researchers advise hotel executives to carefully think about which technologies are worth implementing and which are not because capital expenditure is often high. Hotel executives should also consider the recycling of equipment. Solar panels, for example, are environmentally friendly during operation but are difﬁcult to dispose of. Sustainable initiatives are basically processes that help to make the operation of a hotel more efﬁcient, less hazardous or consume fewer resources. In hospitality, the guest forms an integral part of the product. Hotels are well advised to start ‘greening’ processes where customers are not involved because it is much easier to improve procedures with just staff. The hospitality industry is a very labour-intensive industry. Employees are involved in many processes and work stages, and it is necessary for the hotel workforce to apply ‘greener’ processes in their daily jobs. Therefore,

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convincing employees to apply ‘greener’ processes should be top of the hotel executives’ agendas. Training on environmental issues should become a part in each hotel chain’s training programme. Department heads should be made responsible for the implementation of those improved processes. Having staff who are eager to actively participate in environmental initiatives soon brings positive effects such as increased efﬁciency and ﬁnancial returns in addition to beneﬁting the environment. Literature ﬁndings indicate that there is a lack of knowledge in the ﬁeld of ‘green’ hotel consumer behaviour. Hotel chains would be well advised, when collecting data about their guests’ preferences, not to forget to assess their environmental concerns. Tourists and business travellers are more sophisticated than ever before. As more and more people become aware of environmental issues in their daily life, the trend towards more sustainable hospitality services will increase.

Limitation and Future Research When answering the question which technologies and initiatives increase the sustainability of hotels, this study focused on the three areas, namely energy, water and waste. Therefore, it chieﬂy considered technologies and initiatives applicable to already existing hotels. It did not take into account environmentally sustainable building materials. Also, renewable energy sources have not been discussed in complete detail, as those are not the major concern of hoteliers presently. Additionally, the potential of sustainable food and beverages has not been included due to time constraints. Furthermore, the researchers wish to point out the disparity between the hotels interviewed. Although the comparison between Estonia and Germany produced some meaningful results, there is little similarity between the hotel operators interviewed. Consequently, the ﬁndings are not automatically transferable to all hotels. ‘Green’ business strategy is very new to the hospitality industry. Moreover, the researchers are convinced that sustainable hotel management is at the very early stage of its development and provides many opportunities to carry out further research. Many of the initiatives described have been brought from other industries and more work needs to be carried out to ﬁnd other processes that can be transferred to the hospitality industry. Research in the ﬁeld of ‘green’ hotel consumer behaviour should be advanced and there is research potential in the ﬁeld of eco-labelling and their impact on consumer decisions. The number of eco-labels is ever

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increasing, which results in confusion amongst hoteliers and customers. Lastly, it is felt that there is need for further research in the ﬁeld of ‘green’ brand management, an area yet untouched by researchers.

REFERENCES ADEME. (2007). L’Hoˆtellerie: priorite´ a` l’environnement, available at: http://www.plandeplacements.fr/servlet/getDoc?cid ¼ 96&m ¼ 3&id¼ 49079&ref¼ 19684&p1¼ B [Accessed on the 4th of April, 13:02]. Baker, C. (Ed.) (2005). Sustainable hotel. London: Prince of Wales Business Leaders Forum. Bohdanowicz, P. (2005). European hoteliers’ environmental attitudes: Greening the business. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 46, 188–204. Clark, M. A., Riley, M. J., & Wilkie, E. (1998). Researching and writing dissertations in hospitality and tourism. London: International. Conrady, R., & Buck, M. (Eds). (2008). Trends and issues in global tourism 2008. New York: Springer-Verlag. Environment and Sustainable Development Statistics Service. (2006). Indicators of sustainable development. Tallinn: Statistical Ofﬁce of Estonia. Eurostat. (2008). Available at: http://epp.eurostat.ec [Accessed on the 22nd. of July, 14:32]. Faulk, E. S. (2000). A survey of environmental management by hotels and related tourism businesses. Le Bouveret, Switzerland: University Center Cesar Ritz. FEE. (2007). About green key, available at: http://www.fee-international.org/Render.aspx? PageId ¼ 45 [Accessed on the 2nd of April, 14:32]. Fendt, J. (2007). An investigation into the business potential international hotel chains have to gain competitive advantage from an environmentally sustainable business approach. Diplomarbeit. Bad Honnef, Germany: IUBH. Font, X., Yale, K., & Tribe, J. (2001). Introducing environmental management systems in forest recreation: Results from a consultation exercise. Managing Leisure, 6, 154–167. Go, F. M., & Pine, R. (1995). Globalization strategy in the hospitality industry. London: Routledge. Greenhotelier. (2003). Energy saving: Lighting. Greenhotelier, 28(3), 1–4. Greenhotelier. (2004a). Chillers. Greenhotelier, 31(2), 1–4. Greenhotelier. (2004b). Better waste management. Greenhotelier, 32(3), 1–3. Greenhotelier. (2005a). Saving energy in kitchens. Greenhotelier, 37(1), 1–4. Greenhotelier. (2005b). Towel and linen programmes. Greenhotelier, 35(2), 1–4. Greenhotelier. (2006). Wastewater treatment. Greenhotelier, 39(2), 1–4. Greenhotels. (2007). Green Hotels Association, available at: http://www.greenhotels.com/ whatare.htm [Accessed on the 3rd of April, 16:34]. Grove, S. J., Fisk, R. P., Pickett, G. M., & Kangun, N. (1996). Going green in the service sector. European Journal of Marketing, 30(5), 56–66. Hotelier. (2003). Funding sources. Hotelier, 15(6), 33. Keskkonnaministeerium. (2005a). Estonia has a distinctive natural environment, available at: http://www.envir.ee/67247 [Accessed on the 3rd of April, 15:16]. Keskkonnaministeerium. (2005b). Estonian National Strategy on Sustainable Development: Sustainable Estonia 21, available at: http://www.envir.ee/58738 [Accessed on the 3rd of April, 15:16].

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Kvale, S. (1996). Interviews: An introduction to qualitative research interviewing. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Lash, J., & Wellington, F. (2007). Competitive advantage on a warming planet. Harvard Business Review, 85(3), 94–102. Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Lockyer, T. L. G. (2007). The international hospitality industry – sustainable management. New York: Haworth Business Press. Mackie, H. (1994). Hotels turning green? Asian Hotel and Catering Times, 36(4), 19–23. MKM. (2007–13). Eesti Riiklik Turismiarengukava aastateks 2007–2013 (Estonian National Tourism Development Plan 2007–2013) RTI 01.12.2006 53, 400. [Accessed on the 3rd of April, 16:44]. Peglau, R. (2007). Worldwide number of ISO14001, available at: http://www.ecology.or.jp/ isoworld/english/analy14k.htm [Accessed on the 3rd of April, 16:52]. Peglau, R. (2008). EMAS/ISO 14001 in Hotels. Berlin: Federal Environmental Agency. Porter, M. E. (1985). Competitive advantage. New York: Free Press. Stipanuk, D. M. (2002). Hospitality facilities management and design. Lansing, MI: Educational Institute of the American Hotel & Lodging Association. Swarbrooke, J., & Homer, S. (2007). Consumer behaviour in tourism. Oxford: Elsevier. Tagesschau. (2006). Trendwende Bio-Produkte: Der Verbraucher greift ha¨uﬁger ins O¨ko-Regal, available at: http://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/meldung140070.html [Accessed on the 4th of April, 13:15]. United Nations. (1987). Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development. General Assembly Resolution 42/187, 11 December 1987. [Accessed on the 19th of April 2008, 15:57]. Viabono. (2008). Viabono umbrella eco-label: Enjoying sustainable tourism, available at: http:// www.bfn.de/ﬁleadmin/MDB/documents/presse/ [Accessed on the 22nd of July 2008, 15:57]. VisitEstonia. (2007a). Green Key, available at: http://visitestonia.com/index.php?page ¼ 393 [Accessed on the 3rd of April, 15:56]. VisitEstonia. (2007b). Green Key, available at: http://www.visitestonia.com/index.php?page ¼ 8 [Accessed on the 3rd of April, 16:12]. VisitEstonia. (2007c). Green Key, available at: http://visitestonia.com/index.php?page ¼ 394 [Accessed on the 3rd of April, 15:24]. Watson, M., & Emery, A. R. (2004). Environmental management and auditing systems: The reality of environmental self-regulation. Managerial Auditing Journal, 19(7), 916–928. Webster, K. (2000). Environmental management in the hospitality industry. New York: Cromwell.

HEALTH-CARE TOURISM IN SINGAPORE Tak-Kee Hui and David Wan ABSTRACT Researcher deﬁned health tourism as part of a tourist facility or destination to attract tourists by promoting its health-care services and facilities besides its regular tourist amenities. This study aims to ﬁnd out how tourists perceive Singapore as a choice of destination for health-care treatment. Our ﬁndings reveal that ‘‘medical facilities’’ is the most important factor to consider when they seek for overseas treatment. While both the Asia and non-Asia groups of respondents perceive Singapore having good medical facilities, the Asia group considers ‘‘communication’’ as a problem they may encounter in Singapore whereas the non-Asia group is more concerned with ‘‘cost.’’ The implication of the results is also discussed.

INTRODUCTION Tourism, with its money-spinning potential, is becoming an increasingly important sector in many countries of the world. However, it is only until recently that governments and business services operators pay more attention to the potential of health-care tourism. Goodrich (1994) deﬁned health tourism as part of a tourist facility or destination to attract tourists Advances in Hospitality and Leisure, Volume 5, 109–123 Copyright r 2009 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1745-3542/doi:10.1108/S1745-3542(2009)0000005010

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by promoting its health-care services and facilities besides its regular tourist amenities. Thus, health can be viewed as a factor in individuals’ decisions to go overseas, albeit for different reasons. One might undergo specialized surgery, while another might just go for relaxation/de-stress. Some countries have a reputation for exceptional medical provisions. Patients are attracted to these centers of medical excellence where particular treatments can be obtained. It was reported by Khoo (2003) that foreign patient numbers in Singapore had been steadily increasing over the years before 1997. The ﬁrm growth of foreign patient load was hit hard by the Asian ﬁnancial crisis that swept across the region in the second half of 1997. For the period 1993–1997, patient load for day surgery grew strongly on average by 24.7% p.a., while that for inpatient grew on average by 8.6% p.a. The Asian ﬁnancial crisis in late 1997, however, caused foreign patient load to drop sharply by more than one-third in 1998. Nevertheless, the recovery in the foreign patient load during the postcrisis period was very encouraging. By 2002, the day surgery volume surpassed the precrisis level, while the inpatient volume returned close to the precrisis level. Indonesians and Malaysians remained the two largest foreign patient groups. In September 2002, the Healthcare Services Working Group (HSWG) concluded that Singapore has the potential to become a leading medical center in the region in terms of her health-care system, skilled medical professionals and latest medical technology. In terms of accessibility, Singapore’s location and air links also play to her favor. However, it should be noted that: (a) lack of media communication, (b) high costs, (c) perception that Singapore’s health-care services lag UK and US in terms of quality and range, and (d) inability to cater to certain ethnic groups in terms of religious and language capabilities are considered weaknesses to Singapore’s cause. In October 2003, a new multiagency medical body was formed in an attempt to make Singapore a premier regional health-care hub. Singapore Medicine, an initiative led by the Economic Development Board, Singapore Tourism Board, and International Enterprise Singapore, aims to increase the annual number of foreign patients in Singapore from 211,000 in 2002 to 400,000 in 2006 and one million by 2012 (Business Times, 25 June 2007). The corresponding increase in total spending by foreign medical-care seekers would rise from US$300 million in 2002 to US$2 billion in 2012. Singapore Medicine will invest US$1.3 million (S$2 million) a year to market health services to foreigners, with the main markets coming from Indonesia, Malaysia, China, South Asia, the Middle East, and the rest of Asia

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(Singapore Economic Development Board, 2003). A major factor that determines whether Singapore can reach its targets is the health of the world economy, especially the targeted countries (Business Times, 12 November 2008). It is estimated that Asia’s population will expand from 3.2 billion in 2002 to 5.6 billion by 2050. Thus, the consumer expenditure in Asia on healthcare services and health-care goods would grow tremendously (The Straits Times, 24 March 2007). Also, in view of the world’s population which is getting older but richer, consumer expenditure on health-care services and health-care goods will continue to climb. Competition will be intense since health tourism is also becoming big business in other Asian countries such as India, Malaysia, Taiwan, mainland China, the Philippines, South Korea, and Australia (Today, 29 October 2007; The Straits Times, 20 September 2008). Singapore, with its well-established reputation for medical excellence and supported by growing clinical research and biomedical industries, can tap on this growing demand to entrench itself as the regional health-care hub. Goodrich and Goodrich (1987) argued that visitors might choose one country over another based on distance, prices, kind of tourist experiences sought, and so forth. Meanwhile, competition from nearby Thailand and Malaysia remains strong. As reported in The Straits Times (21 January 2004), Thailand attracted up to 800,000 foreigners to their hospitals, bringing in about US$555 million in 2003. In 2004, Bangkok made plans to inject US$87.7 million (3 billion baht) into a new project in an effort to keep ahead of Asian rivals in attracting foreign patients. Thailand’s biggest private hospital, Bumrungrad Hospital, itself attracted close to 300,000 foreign patients from 140 countries in 2003, more than Singapore’s in total. To add to Singapore’s woes, Bumrungrad Hospital is not the only private hospital in Bangkok trying to sell its medical services overseas (The New Paper, 18 February 2004). In fact, Globe Health Tour in 2006 had also reported that Thailand, currently the world’s leading medical tourism destination, attracted about 600,000 patients annually. About 400,000 visited just one hospital, Bumrungrad in Bangkok. Bangkok alone aimed to attract 2 million foreign patients a year by 2010 (Business Times, 25 June 2007). In Malaysia, the Eighth Malaysia Plan has identiﬁed 44 hospitals as part of the health tourism program. Furthermore, 27 medical centers have expressed interest to participate in promoting health tourism, while another 13 have already embarked on various promotional activities. These health-care providers are working closely with government agencies in a concerted effort to promote their health-care facilities and services abroad. One of the main

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advantages Malaysia and Thailand are able to capitalize on is the cost factor. A heart bypass in Malaysia and Thailand costs an average of US$6,300 and US$6,800, respectively, as opposed to the US$10,400 charged in Singapore. Both countries are also well equipped with adequate, highly trained specialists from both home and abroad, up-to-date facilities and supporting services that are comparable to hospitals abroad. Kulaveerasingam (2006) reported that health tourists spend on average four times more than usual tourists and it is a fast growing segment in the tourism industry. He further suggested that future investments on the health care is needed for Malaysia to remain competitive globally. The objective of this study is to ﬁnd out tourists’ perceptions with regard to Singapore’s health-care system, with a view to gain an insight into what factors they deem as important when seeking treatment away from their country of residence, and whether they would consider coming to Singapore to seek medical treatment or go elsewhere in the region.

LITERATURE REVIEW Baloglu and McCleary (1999) argued that the image of a destination is ‘‘the sum of beliefs, ideas and impressions’’ that a person holds. The image of a place is formed through beliefs and knowledge about it, and feelings about it. Image of destination or vacation site has been identiﬁed in several models of travel decision and behavior as a powerful factor within the decisionmaking process for potential travelers (Woodside & Lysonski, 1989; Chon, 1990; Gartner, 1993). Even in the absence of extensive marketing, an image of a travel destination can be gathered through news reports or based on a person’s general knowledge of history, geography, and current affairs. An induced stage involves the processing of destination-marketing materials. Advertising can improve the induced image of a country, or the impression people have of an area without having been there. Advertising plays an important role in this process as it provides one of the most efﬁcient means by which a country can convey its image to potential travelers. Also, a country can try to downplay the importance of attributes on which it is weak and emphasize those attributes on which it has a competitive advantage. In a study by Bojanic (1991), it was found that as exposure to advertising increased, respondents of his study had more favorable attitudes toward the country.

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In many cases, tourists use a combination of formal and informal sources to construct their image of a destination. Another form of advertising would be through word-of-mouth, i.e., through recommendations to others. Ryan’s (1998) empirical study of UK tourists found that past experience is important in inﬂuencing decisions about holiday purchases. It was also noted by Chen (2003) that product satisfaction, pricing, and needy assistance are the three critical factors that have inﬂuenced his respondents’ recommendations to others for the destination they previously visited, or destinations they have knowledge, or have formed perceptions about. With respect to health tourism, the same result can be expected, whereby advertising can change or affect perceptions of would-be foreign patients, as it educates the targeted group of Singapore’s facilities and specialists. Another factor that can affect perceptions of tourists would be the quality of services rendered. Providing high-quality service is increasingly recognized as a critical factor in the success of tourism destinations (Fick & Ritchie, 1991). Echoing this sentiment are Rao and Kelkarm (1997) who found that one strategy that has been related to success is the delivery of high-quality service, especially during times of intensive competition internationally. The difﬁculty in the analysis and evaluation of quality in tourism stems from three distinctive features which are unique to services industries: intangibility, heterogeneity, and the inseparability of production and consumption. Intangibility is in essence what differentiates a service from a commodity. Heterogeneity refers to the potential for variability in the delivery of a service. This is especially prominent in tourism services because a substantial labor element is involved. The quality of tourism services is largely dependent upon the actions of people. Since each personal transaction is going to be different, one can expect there to be great variation in quality. The third characteristic describes how tourism services are often rendered and experienced simultaneously (Keane, 1997). The importance of quality in tourism was also noted by Kandampully (2000). He stressed that quality will be the main driving force as tourism ﬁrms strive to meet the competitive challenges of the future. Hence, to relate this back to health tourism, it can be seen based on previous studies that quality is of the utmost importance for service industries, and in particular tourism. Hence, the authors feel that it is reasonable to expect the role quality plays in health tourism to be no different, i.e., quality will also be a hugely important factor that would affect tourists’ perception of Singapore’s health-care services.

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Henderson (2004) noted that hospitals had to work with specialist tour operators that combined medical treatment, transport, accommodation, and leisure elements. In addition, visa problems, foreign exchange restrictions, and medical insurance covered abroad should also be made known to the patients before they came. Williams (1994), Sitzia and Wood (1997) as well as Sixma, Spreeuwenberg, and van der Pasch (1998) found that only 10% of patient satisfaction with the physician was explained by patient expectations and perceived outcome. Thompson (1986) also attempted to identify those factors that inﬂuence patient satisfaction. A long list of factors was evaluated, including: demographic and personal characteristics, attitudes, expectations. However, these variables only predicted 20% of satisfaction.

THE SURVEY As there have not been much done on the perceptions of tourists on a country’s health-care services, we have utilized the literature review to formulate the questionnaire. We have separated the questionnaire into the following three parts.

The Tourist’s Perceptions of Singapore’s Health-Care System Based on the report by the HSWG stating the strengths and weaknesses of Singapore in terms of her health-care services, we decided to incorporate these points into our survey. The following factors were used: (i) medical facilities, (ii) accessibility to Singapore, (iii) communication with the medical personnel in Singapore and whether it would be a problem, (iv) costs of medical services in Singapore, and (v) how the tourist perceived the quality and range of Singapore’s health-care services. All these factors were measured using a 5-point Likert scale, (1 – very bad and 5 – very good), except (iv) where 1 – very cheap and 5 – very expensive.

Factors the Tourist Deems Important For the second segment, we utilized the same set of factors used in the ﬁrst segment, and asked the participant to rate how important this set of factors would be if he decide to seek treatment away from his country of residence.

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All these factors were measured using a 5-point Likert scale (1 – not very important and 5 – very important).

Yes/No and Open-Ended Questions The third and ﬁnal segment was made up of two yes/no questions of which one was also an open-ended question. The ﬁrst question was regarding whether the tourist had seen any advertisements regarding Singapore as a health-care hub (yes/no). We decided to put this question in as it can be seen from the literature review that advertising does have an effect on people’s perceptions of tourist destinations. The other open-ended question asked the tourist whether he/she would consider coming to Singapore to seek medical treatment (yes/no) and asked the tourist to justify his/her answer.

Data The data was collected at Singapore Changi International Airport, at both arrival and departure halls of the two terminals. Systematic random scheme was used, and a total of 226 tourists were interviewed. Out of these 226 tourists, 31 (13.7%) could be considered to be nonrespondents for various reasons. Hence, the sample size for the data analysis becomes 195. The usable rate is 86.3%. Of the 195 tourists, 33.3% were females. For the education levels of the tourists only 8.7% had High School education and 58.5% were university degree holder. In fact, 12.8% had postgraduate degrees. About 55.3% of the respondents were in the age bracket of 21–40 and only 3.6% were between the age of 12 and 20. The rest were in the age group of 41 and above. A total of 103 (52.8%) were repeat visitors. Most of the visitors were from Indonesia and Malaysia as these countries are close to Singapore.

METHODOLOGY As highlighted in the report of the Singapore Economic Development Board (2002), Asia is one of the targeted groups to promote Singapore as a health tourism hub. The respondents were segmented into two groups, namely, Asia (N ¼ 122) and non-Asia (N ¼ 73). Based on the ﬁrst segment of the questionnaire where the tourists were asked about their perception of

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Singapore’s health-care service, the usual independent t-test was then used to examine whether there existed any difference between these two groups. In addition to this, factors which may have the impact on their choice of Singapore for their health-care services were also examined using binary logistic regression analysis. Three logistic regression analyses were carried out, namely, based on the overall sample, the Asia sample and the non-Asia sample. Choosing Singapore for medical treatment was used as the dependent variable and those six identiﬁed factors above and two more factors, namely, repeat visit and advertising effect, would form the independent variables. The Backward Wald technique in the SPSS package was used and so only the signiﬁcant variables are displayed. In the second segment, the same tourist was asked to rate how important these factors were in his decision in choosing a destination to seek medical treatment away from his country of residence. This would at least give those decision makers an idea how to position Singapore in order to attract more tourists to come to the country for health-care services. The usual independent t-test was used again to examine whether there existed any difference between the Asia and non-Asia groups.

RESEARCH FINDINGS As seen in Table 1, all respondents rank Medical Facilities as the most important factor for them to seek medical help overseas. The results seem to be expected. If the tourists can have similar medical skill and facilities in their own country, they may prefer to stay in their own country instead of traveling overseas as the cost involved may be high. Thus, the Cost factor is ranked as the second important factor when they think of having healthcare overseas. The lowest and least important factor is Quality and Range. It is likely that most of them may check this before they choose the country Table 1. Items Medical Facilities Accessibility Communication Cost Quality and range

The Mean of the Important Variables. Mean

Std. Deviation

4.68 3.67 4.04 4.06 3.63

0.499 0.758 0.687 0.857 0.830

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for their health-care service. With the Internet, they can easily ﬁnd out the information or they can also get the information through word-of-mouth from their relatives and friends. This may be the reason why this factor is less important compared with the rest. Table 2 shows the differences between the Asia and non-Asia groups. Out of ﬁve important factors, only two factors turn out to be signiﬁcant, namely, Communication and Cost. It comes as no surprise. If the tourists want to go overseas for health care, they also have to worry whether they might encounter problem in communicating with the personnel/doctors or not. There is no guarantee that all tourists can speak the local ofﬁcial language. As for the Cost factor, it may cost more if they have to ﬂy to a country which is far from their own country. They also have to take into account of the medical treatment besides the hotel and airfare expenses. As for those who reside not far from the country for treatment, it may cost less. For the other factors such as Medical Facilities, our respondents rank them as very important. In fact, the scores are high in both groups and so it ends up that both factors are insigniﬁcant. The perceived values of the tourists toward Singapore are displayed in Table 3. All respondents perceived Singapore having good Medical Results of the Two Independent Samples Based on the Important Variables.

Table 2. Items Medical Facilities Accessibility Communication Cost Quality and range

t

p-value

Mean Difference

Std. Error Difference

0.655 0.325 2.174 3.962 1.915

0.514 0.746 0.031 0.000 0.057

0.048 0.036 0.219 0.484 0.234

0.074 0.112 0.101 0.122 0.122

Table 3. Items Medical Facilities Accessibility Communication Cost Quality and range

The Mean of the Perceived Variables. Mean

Std. Deviation

4.37 4.15 3.83 3.59 4.00

0.589 0.679 0.825 1.068 0.681

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Facilities besides easy Accessibility. Most of the respondents indicated that the Immigration Department is very efﬁcient and helpful. They can easily get the visa and all required information. The tourists do consider Cost as one of the important factors for them to go overseas for medical treatment. However, most of the tourists perceive the cost involved for their medical treatment in Singapore to be reasonable as seen in the mean score value of 3.59 which is just above the average. Based on the average scores, one can see that the overall impression of Singapore as a medical hub is between ‘‘Fair’’ and ‘‘Good.’’ When the data is segmented into two different groups, we can easily detect from Table 4 that Communication and Cost are the only two factors that turn out to be signiﬁcant. Being a multiracial society, most of the Singaporeans can speak a number of languages. However, not all doctors or personnel are local. Hence, there is a need to have more personnel and doctors who can speak different languages (Today, 31 August 2007). For instance, those who are Chinese (from China) may ﬁnd it tough to communicate with those who can only speak English. The cost concern is again due to the distance where the tourists come from. Our ﬁnding is consistent with what Goodrich and Goodrich (1987) highlighted in their study. The results of the binary logistic analysis based on the whole sample, Asia and non-Asia groups are displayed in Tables 5–7. As seen in Table 5, four out of the seven independent factors are signiﬁcant. They are Medical Facilities, Communication, Repeat Visit, and Advertisement. The results seem to be consistent with Table 3 where the tourists consider Medical Facilities to be the most important factor in choosing a country for medical treatment. Communication is one of the concerns since ineffective communication may lead to wrong diagnosis. Repeat visitation is a good indicator of how conﬁdent the tourists feel about Singapore as a destination for

Table 4. Items Medical Facilities Accessibility Communication Cost Quality and range

Results of the Two Independent Samples Based on the Perceived Variables. t

p-value

Mean Difference

Std. Error Difference

0.741 0.050 3.064 3.124 1.526

0.460 0.960 0.002 0.002 0.129

0.065 0.005 0.366 0.483 0.153

0.087 0.101 0.120 0.155 0.100

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Table 5.

Results of the Binary Regression Based on the Whole Sample (N ¼ 195).

Items Medical Facilities Communication Repeat Visitation Advertisement Constant

Table 6.

Std. Error

Wald

df

Signiﬁcance

Exp(B)

1.061 0.446 1.095 1.078 0.867

0.418 0.208 0.325 0.435 1.440

6.441 4.617 11.339 6.154 0.362

1 1 1 1 1

0.011 0.032 0.001 0.013 0.547

2.889 0.640 2.988 2.939 0.420

Results of the Binary Regression Based on the Asia Sample (N ¼ 122).

Items Medical Facilities Constant

Table 7.

B

B

Std. Error

Wald

df

Signiﬁcance

Exp(B)

0.552 2.051

0.319 1.406

2.988 2.127

1 1

0.084 0.145

1.736 0.129

Results of the Binary Regression Based on the Non-Asia Sample (N ¼ 73).

Items Cost Quality and range Constant

B

Std. Error

Wald

df

Signiﬁcance

Exp(B)

0.854 0.866 2.247

0.386 0.491 2.346

4.902 3.114 0.917

1 1 1

0.027 0.078 0.338

0.426 2.379 0.106

medical treatment. For the advertising effect, this is also consistent with previous ﬁndings in that the tourists know about the quality and range of medical treatment either through the Internet or the word-of-mouth. Table 6 shows the results based on the Asia group. Medical Facilities is the only signiﬁcant factor. The results come as no surprise as Singapore stresses itself with the world-class standards, regulatory environment, and progress in biomedical research. In fact, these are the reasons why tourists from Asia choose Singapore for their medical treatment. As for Table 7, the results are not the same as those in Table 6. Those who come from nonAsian countries such as US and Canada will usually have the so-called high technical skill and technology in their own countries. If they go overseas for treatment, it is usually either because the cost is lower overseas or the

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services they are looking for may not be available in their own countries. For the other factors such as communication and accessibility, all these may not be the main concern why they choose other countries for treatment. For quality and range, the ﬁnding is consistent with the results of Fick and Ritchie (1991) where they indicated that providing high-quality service was increasingly recognized as a critical factor in the success of tourism destinations. Hence, Singapore should try to improve on the quality of its health-care services as high-quality service provides a better position for it to compete with the neighboring countries such as Malaysia and Thailand. In fact, the enduring strength of Singapore is its willingness to question whether the current services are sustainable or not.

CONCLUSION This study shows that respondents rate Medical Facilities as the most important factor in choosing a destination for their medical treatment. The Cost factor is also important and thus it is ranked after this factor. In general, all the other factors such as quality and range and accessibility are ranked above the average score. Singapore has the advanced health-care facilities, high quality of medical practitioners, and a strong reputation of quality care. The respondents also rank highly on Singapore as seen in the high average score of all factors. Medical Facilities is again ranked as the most important reason why they choose Singapore as a destination for medical care. For the non-Asia group, affordable health care is one of the factors as to why they select Singapore as a place for treatment. It is likely to be value for money. In fact, they also think that quality and the range of services offered are better than their own countries. Asia and non-Asia groups view differently in terms of communication and cost. Some of the respondents from the Asia group may have communication problem with the medical doctors since they do not speak or understand English. However, those from non-Asia group, they generally do not have problem in speaking English. Thus, it is important to have more medical personnel and doctors who are at least bilingual or have some translators to standby. Those from non-Asia group also view cost differently from those who are from Asia as they think that the cost is value for the money relative to their own countries. For the Asia group, the cost is considered to be relatively high. Hence, one of the strategies is to reduce the cost and yet provide quality service. This may further attract more people from the neighboring countries.

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Our ﬁnding reveals that advertising is effective when the whole sample is considered even though it does not come up as the signiﬁcant factor in both groups. Thus, the Singapore Tourism Promotion Board must continue to promote the country aggressively. This will in turn help more people to know about Singapore as a Medical hub. Repeat visitation is also another factor which turns out to be signiﬁcant in the whole sample case but not in the individual groups. However, it does not mean that it is not important. As seen in many of the studies, repeat visitation means that the tourists visit the country and like it and so they come back again (Today, 29 October 2007). Hence, this factor can be treated as one of the channels to promote Singapore as a destination worthwhile for a number of visits. In other words, one visit is not enough. Usually, those repeat visitors may recommend the country to their friends and relatives. Hence, if they choose Singapore for their medical treatment and all services meet what they expected, they may recommend Singapore to others for treatment. Hence, the best quality of service must be maintained if Singapore wants to sustain its reputation as a key medical hub. Health-oriented holidays are deﬁnitely on the rise. The success of Singapore as a regional medical hub hinges upon the concerted effort of the government and the hospitals. Both parties need to engage in intensive and well-managed promotional campaigns. Travelers seeking medical treatment nowadays often combine it with holiday stay. To attract highspending patients, especially those from Indonesia, Europe, and the Middle East, hospitals here have to provide quality health facilities with ﬁrst-rate services and even provide hostel accommodation for family members. Singapore is now focusing on strengthening its network of complementary industries to support health tourism. These include, for example, IT services, human resource training and development, medical R&D, airport infrastructure, tour operations, spa operators, and accommodation service providers such as service apartments and hotels. It is a pluralized society and Muslim patients will not have problem getting food that is not forbidden in Islam. Its English speaking work force remains one of the country’s competitive edges in the global arena. Political stability, safe environment, cultural diversity, and competent health-care professionals all add up to provide a convincing reason for people to come here to visit and to experience its diverse offerings in medical and preventive health packages. The question to answer is: Can Singapore make a crucial impact on the international medical tourism scene? Despite the recent economic turmoil that affects the arrival of foreign patients, Singapore’s reputation for highend medical treatment (complicated or advanced surgeries) continues to

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draw foreigners (Today, 22 December 2008). Patients from far away countries such as Europe, US, Japan, Australia, the Middle East, and Russia will be attracted to the country not just because of the cost-savings factor but also because of the inefﬁcient, overstretched health-care systems, or nonavailability of state-of-the-art medical facilities in their home countries.

REFERENCES Baloglu, S., & McCleary, K. (1999). A model of destination image formation. Annals of Tourism Research, 26, 868–897. Bojanic, D. (1991). The use of advertising in managing destination image. Tourism Management, 12, 352–355. Business Times, Singapore newspaper. (2007). Medical tourism boasts hospital shares. Business Times, 25 June issue. Business Times, Singapore newspaper. (2008). Economic downturn crimps medical tourism. Business Times, 12 November issue. Chen, J. (2003). Market segmentation by tourists’ sentiments. Annals of Tourism Research, 30, 178–193. Chon, K. (1990). The role of destination image in tourism: A review and discussion. The Tourist Review, 2, 2–9. Fick, G., & Ritchie, J. (1991). Measuring service quality in the travel and tourism industry. Journal of Travel Research, 30, 22–29. Gartner, W. (1993). Image formation process. Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing, l2, 191–216. Goodrich, J. (1994). Health tourism: A new positioning strategy for tourist destinations. Journal of International Consumer Marketing, 63, 227–238. Goodrich, J., & Goodrich, G. (1987). Health-care tourism – An exploratory study. Tourism Management, 8, 217–222. Henderson, J. (2004). Healthcare tourism in Southeast Asia. Tourism Review International, 7, 111–121. Kandampully, J. (2000). The impact of demand ﬂuctuation on the quality of service: A tourism industry example. Managing Service Quality, 10, 10–18. Keane, M. (1997). Quality and pricing in tourism destinations. Annals of Tourism Research, 1, 117–130. Khoo, L. (2003). Trends in foreign patient admission in Singapore. Ministry of Health Information Paper 2003/01. Kulaveerasingam, D. (2006). Investment in Malaysian healthcare and health tourism. Paper presented at the 17th National Real Estate Convention, Malaysia. Rao, C., & Kelkarm, M. (1997). Relative impact of performance and importance ratings on measurement of service quality. Journal of Professional Services Marketing, 15, 69–86. Ryan, C. (1998). The travel career ladder: An appraisal. Annals of Tourism Research, 25, 936–957. Sitzia, J., & Wood, N. (1997). Patient satisfaction: A review of issues and concepts. Social Science and Medicine, 45, 1829–1843.

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Singapore Economic Development Board. (2002). Report by the Healthcare Services Working Group on developing Singapore as the healthcare services hub in Asia. Singapore Economic Development Board, Singapore. Singapore Economic Development Board. (2003). Report on Singapore set to be Healthcare Services Hub in Asia. Singapore Economic Development Board, Singapore. Sixma, H., Spreeuwenberg, P., & van der Pasch, M. (1998). Patient satisfaction with the general practitioner: A two level analysis. Medical Care, 36, 212–219. The New Paper, Singapore newspaper. (2004). This ‘5-star’ Hospital Draws More Singaporean. The New Paper, 18 February issue. The Straits Times, Singapore newspaper. (2004). Thailand rides hub wars. The Straits Times, 21 January issue. The Straits Times, Singapore newspaper. (2007). Goal 2010: Singapore targets a million patients. The Straits Times, 24 March issue. The Straits Times, Singapore newspaper. (2008). Philippines vying for medical tourists. The Straits Times, 20 September issue. Thompson, A. (1986). The soft approach to quality of hospital care. International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, 3, 59–61. Today, Singapore newspaper. (2007). Hospital trip. Today, 31 August issue. Today, Singapore newspaper. (2007). Record number of Britons seeking medical care abroad. Today, 29 October issue. Today, Singapore newspaper. (2008). Will Singapore stay on the map? Today, 22 December issue. Williams, B. (1994). Patient satisfaction: A valid concept? Social Science and Medicine, 38, 509–516. Woodside, A., & Lysonski, S. (1989). A general model of traveler destination choice. Journal of Travel Research, 16, 8–14.

INVESTIGATING THE DIFFERENCES IN CORPORATE GOVERNANCE BETWEEN HOSPITALITY AND NONHOSPITALITY FIRMS Seonghee Oak and Raghavan J. Iyengar ABSTRACT Prior research suggests that hospitality ﬁrms behave differently than other ﬁrms in terms of ﬁnancing and investment issues. Such behavior may be attributable in part to agency problems and corporate governance structures in hospitality ﬁrms. This paper contains a report of an investigation into whether corporate governance mechanisms differ in hospitality ﬁrms relative to other industries. Our ﬁndings suggest that hospitality ﬁrms are more likely to experience agency problems than are nonhospitality ﬁrms. Hospitality ﬁrms have lower governance control mechanisms, better ﬁnancial performance and higher-quality earnings than nonhospitality ﬁrms. An understanding of corporate governance control mechanisms helps to reduce agency problems and improves the hospitality ﬁrm’s performance in the hospitality corporation.

Advances in Hospitality and Leisure, Volume 5, 125–140 Copyright r 2009 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1745-3542/doi:10.1108/S1745-3542(2009)0000005011

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INTRODUCTION The Sarbanes–Oxley Act brought into focus the centrality of corporate governance in accounting and ﬁnancial reporting. Several of the Sarbanes– Oxley recommendations have been predicated on the basis of the presumed relationship between good governance and better earnings quality. While there have been many studies of corporate governance, none have looked at the hospitality industry in particular. U.S. public corporations offset agency problems by providing the right incentives to managers and having boards of directors represent the shareholders’ interests (Brealey & Myers, 2000). However, ownership and control are not always separate. Agency problems are often due to conﬂicts between shareholders and managers. Shareholders wish to maximize their ﬁrm value, but managers may have interests that increase their own advantage. Understanding the mechanism of agency problems may aid in resolving those problems. In this paper we examine various control mechanisms, such as corporate governance and debt ﬁnancing, currently used by the hospitality industry, and compare the use of these mechanisms relative to other industries in solving agency problems. Since debt ﬁnancing in the hospitality industry is higher than in other industries (Andrew, Damitio, & Schmidgall, 2007), lenders may feel obliged to engage in more monitoring (Agrawal & Knoeber, 1996). Control mechanisms for agency problems have been shown to be interdependent (Agrawal & Knoeber, 1996). Thus, it is possible that the hospitality industry has better control mechanisms for agency problems than other industries. In this study, we sought to determine whether agency problem control mechanisms help to reduce agency problems and improve hospitality ﬁrms’ performance. The motivation for this paper is straightforward. Hospitality ﬁrms act differently than nonhospitality ﬁrms in matters of corporate ﬁnancing and investment. In this empirical study, nonhospitality ﬁrms are all ﬁrms that do not belong to hospitality industries. Nonhospitality ﬁrms have been selected because previous studies have shown differences between the hospitality industry and all industries. Unlike previous research on other industries, longterm debt and growth opportunities (capital expenditures/total assets) in the lodging industry have an unexpectedly positive relationship (Dalbor & Upneja, 2004). Since the lodging industry has unique characteristics due to its seasonality and ﬁxed asset intensiveness, the growth opportunities and ﬁnancing of those opportunities are different. The leverage ratio in the lodging industry ranged from 49% to 65% from 1966 to 2002. During this period, the optimal capital structure involved a leverage ratio between 45%

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and 50% in the restaurant industry (Andrew et al., 2007). Within this range of debt ratio, hospitality ﬁrms have signiﬁcantly higher earnings – ROA, ROE, and EPS – than in other industries (Table 2). These debt ﬁnancing differences suggest that the trade-off between costs and beneﬁts for a hospitality ﬁrm’s corporate governance may differ from that for nonhospitality ﬁrms. The latter provides us with the necessary motivation to investigate whether these differences could be explained by the differences in corporate governance structures between hospitality ﬁrms and nonhospitality ﬁrms. Therefore this study will examine differences in performance and in corporate governance mechanisms between hospitality and nonhospitality ﬁrms.

LITERATURE REVIEW Corporate Governance Mechanisms After the ﬁnancial scandals of Enron, Worldcom, and Global Crossing, the relationship between companies and their external auditors was revealed to be largely to blame, prompting the U.S. Congress to agree to reform the NYSE Listing Rules (Mallin, 2007). The result was the ‘‘Sarbanes–Oxley Act’’ of 2002. The Sarbanes–Oxley Act requires CEOs and CFOs to verify that ﬁnancial reports, such as 10-Q, 10-K, and 20-F, follow security laws. The Act seeks to make auditors independent from a ﬁrm’s audit committee. Firms listed on the stock market must have an audit committee that includes independent members and must disclose the presence of a ﬁnancial expert on that committee. The Act prevents the independent auditor from performing nine nonaudit services. According to Mallin (2007), those services are ‘‘(1) bookkeeping for the ﬁnancial statement for the audited company, (2) accounting information system design, (3) valuation services, (4) actuarial service, (5) internal audit outsourcing services, (6) management functions, (7) broker or dealer, (8) legal services unrelated to audit, and (9) any other service that the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) decides is not permitted.’’ The Act also requires that the CEO and CFO certify the accuracy of the ﬁnancial reporting in annual and quarterly reports. The separation of ownership from control allows managers to pursue selfserving goals that may not beneﬁt stockholders (Brealey & Myers, 2000). Jensen and Meckling (1976) argued that managers may deviate from valuemaximizing ﬁnancing and investment decisions in order to pursue their own self-interests. Managers who are unable to diversify their human capital may pursue their own interests at the expense of the ﬁrms that they manage, by

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avoiding value-enhancing but risk-increasing levels of investment and debt (Fama, 1980). Such agency conﬂicts between managers and shareholders in investment and ﬁnancing decisions may be partially mitigated by incentive compensation schemes (e.g., Smith & Watts, 1982, 1992; Stulz, 1988; John & John, 1993; Agrawal & Knoeber, 1996; Berger, Ofek, & Yermack, 1997, Duru, Iyengar, & Thevaranjan, 2002). Berger et al. (1997) found that when a CEO has been in ofﬁce for a long time, there is lower leverage, weak stock incentives and compensation, and weak monitoring by the board of directors. Unlike agency theory, stakeholder theory counts on a wider group of constituents. The wider stakeholder group includes employees, creditors, customer, suppliers, government, and the local community. Shareholders and stakeholders may favor different corporate governance structures. Mallin (2007, p. 16) reported that ‘‘stakeholder theory argues that managers should take account the trade-offs against the interests of each of these stakeholder group might be made.’’ Stakeholder theory (Wearing, 2005) emphasizes that employees are not in a position to engage in risk reduction through diversiﬁcation. Suppliers with large investments risk having customers turn to another supplier. Managerial shareholding is one of the mechanisms available for controlling agency problems. Hermalin and Weisbach (1991) found that ﬁrm performance relative to ownership has an inverted U-shaped relationship. In other words, ﬁrm performance increases at low levels of ownership, reaches a peak, and then starts to decrease at high levels of ownership. At less than 1% ownership, Tobin’s Q is an increasing function of ownership. At between 1% and 20% ownership, the effect is negative at a lower level and positive at a higher level. Beyond 20% ownership, Q is a decreasing function of ownership. Morck, Shleifer, and Vishny (1988) reported that greater levels of managerial ownership will lessen the effectiveness of internal control mechanisms by decreasing the probability of an external control threat. Denis, Denis, and Sarin (1997) found that controlling for prior stock performance and other turnover determinants, top executive turnover is negatively related to the equity ownership of directors.

Board of Directors To reduce agency problems in corporations, the board of directors has the power to hire, ﬁre, and compensate top-level decision managers and to monitor important decisions (Fama & Jensen, 1983). In addition, the director’s duties are as follows (Mallin, 2007): act within his/her powers for

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the purposes for which they were conferred; promote the success of the company; avoid conﬂicts of interest; exercise care and diligence; and exercise independent judgment. Stoeberl and Sherony (1985) and Anderson and Anthony (1986) contended that CEO duality (i.e., CEO serving as chairperson of the board of directors) provides a unitary corporate leadership that inspires credibility in corporate management, creates an image of ﬁrm continuity, and fosters clear, unambiguous lines of communication among management, employees, and the board of directors. Donaldson and Davis (1991), Finkelstein and D’Aveni (1994), Dayha, Lonie, and Power (1996), Brickley, Coles, and Jarrell (1997), and Bhagat and Black (2002) have all strongly supported the argument in favor of a duality structure. Brickley et al. (1997) recommended against adopting a common view of leadership structure. A common view is the preference for separate positions rather than a combined position. Clearly, there are lower costs in having one person in two positions rather than splitting them (CEO vs. chairperson). In contrast, Fama and Jensen (1983) and Jensen (1993) argued that CEO duality clearly breaches the principle of control and management and results in prohibitively high agency costs. Rechner and Dalton (1991) found that ﬁrms with separate titles tend to outperform ﬁrms with combined titles. Pi and Timme (1993) found that 75% of ﬁrms had combined titles and 25% had separate titles in the sample that was the focus of their survey (a bank sample, surveyed over the 1987–1990 period). While costs are lower, returns on assets are higher for ﬁrms with administrators with separate titles. Baliga, Moyer, and Rao (1996) found little evidence that separating the titles improved ﬁrm performance. Prior empirical work suggests that board structure may be a function of a ﬁrm’s characteristics (Denis, Denis, & Sarin, 1999; Raheja, 2005). In an analysis of large U.S. ﬁrms, Brickley et al. (1997) found that ﬁrm performance increased with board independence. Independent outsider board directors, who are not internal managers, play a crucial role as arbiters in disagreements among internal managers, and carry out tasks related to agency problems such as compensation or hiring (Fama & Jensen, 1983). During takeovers, independent outsider directors increase target shareholder gains from tender offers (Cotter, Shivdasani, & Zenner, 1997). In one case, a hotel ﬁrm was blamed for having an independent board, while the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (an institutional investor) doubted that the Hilton CEO’s friend, Mr. Ueberroth, could act independently from the Hilton board of directors (Brinkley, 2004). However, when insiders are appointed to board membership, the average stock price decreases for ﬁrms whose insider stock ownership is less than 5% (Rosenstein & Wyatt, 1997); in situations

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with between 5% and 25% insider stock ownership, the average stock price, however, increases. While ﬁrm performance depends on board independence, the latter is itself dependent on the industry. High-tech companies such as Microsoft have a relatively smaller board with a higher proportion of insiders and afﬁliated outsiders. The reasons include the high-technology emphasis in the company, the degree of competition in this area, and the proportion of insider ownership (Raheja, 2005, p. 300). When projects are more difﬁcult to monitor by outsiders as in high-tech industries, ﬁrms have a higher proportion of insiders on the board. For instance, General Electric (GE) has 17 board members – 4 insiders and 1 former employee. Since GE is a conglomerate, potential private beneﬁts to insiders may be greater (Raheja, 2005, p. 300). When projects are easier to monitor, ﬁrms have a higher proportion of outsiders on the board. In addition, in the diversiﬁed ﬁrm, outsiders with expertise in a particular business may have a larger share of the board seats (Agrawal & Knoeber, 1996). A large board is less likely to function effectively and is easier for the CEO to control (Jensen, 1993). Yermack (1996) found an inverse relationship between a ﬁrm’s market valuation and the size of the board of directors. This is because the incremental cost of poor communication related to large groups outweighs the beneﬁts of the board’s incremental monitoring beneﬁts. The ﬁrm’s valuation declines when board size ranges from 4 to 10. Beyond 10, board size has no effect on ﬁrm valuation (John & Senbet, 1998). A board of directors has several legal obligations (Colley, Doyle, Logan, & Stettinius, 2003). The board should act within the law. The board needs to keep ethical considerations in view at all times. The board may devote resources to public purposes. The board makes policies on ethics and disclosure that set the standards for directors. Directors loyal to the corporation and act in the best interests of the corporation and shareholders. Directors use their position for corporate investors only. Also, directors need to perform according to a standard of care that satisﬁes the best interests of the corporation. The committee structure of boards and the director’s roles enhance the board’s productivity and monitoring (Klein, 1995; John & Senbet, 1998). Mallin (2007, p. 144) stated that ‘‘In the Combined code (2006), the board should establish a remuneration committee of at least three, or in the case of smaller companies, two, members, who should all be independent nonexecutive directors.’’ Compensation committees are enjoined to review compensation policies and programs and periodically recommend incentive compensations to CEOs and other executives based on performance scores

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and peer review of other ﬁrms in similar industries. The compensation committee sets a transparent procedure for compensation and target levels. Prior research seems to suggest that the presence of inside directors on the compensation committee results in relatively higher compensation for CEOs (Newman & Mozes, 1999). On the other hand, the audit committee plays a crucial role in the ﬁnancial reporting process. It meets with the ﬁrm’s auditors and ﬁnancial managers to review all ﬁnancial statements, the audit processes, and internal accounting controls (Klein, 2002). When audit committee independence is impaired, abnormal accruals largely increase. In other words, there is a strong negative association between the proportion of independent directors and accounting accruals (Klein, 2002). Spira (2002) provided information on the patterns of interaction and composition of audit committees. The audit committee has to be composed of independent nonexecutive directors in order for the committee to function properly.

Earnings Quality The Enron and WorldCom debacles have focused the attention of regulators and stockholders on the credibility of ﬁnancial statements. Several different earnings quality measures have been suggested in the accounting literature (Schipper & Vincent, 2003). We use four different measures to capture earnings quality. The ﬁrst is a ratio of cash from operations to income (CFOPINC). The closer this measure is to 1, the higher the earnings quality (Harris, Huh, & Fairﬁeld, 2000; Raj, Hawkins, Bernstein, & Redlich, 2002). The second measure captures the variability of operating income vis-a`-vis cash from operations by taking the ratio of the standard deviation of operating earnings to the standard deviation of cash from operations (SDINCCF). Smaller ratios imply that executives have engaged in smoothing income and thus project lower earnings quality. The last two measures are based on Ball and Shivakumar’s (2006) paper that captures the discretionary accruals (i.e., managed or manipulated earnings by the executives) that are not explained by changes in revenue, total investment in durable assets, or changes in cash ﬂows.

Hypothesis Development Since hospitality ﬁrms exhibit different ﬁnancing and investment issues, we empirically investigated whether corporate governance variables display

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signiﬁcant differences. While the lodging business is dependent on tangible assets, high-tech ﬁrms are characterized by their reliance on intangible assets. Companies with safe and tangible assets tend to borrow more than ﬁrms with risky, intangible assets (Myers, 2001). Other service industries with high ﬁxed assets, such as restaurants, recreation, airlines, and cruise ﬁrms, will exhibit similar capital structure issues. For this study, we assembled a variety of corporate governance mechanisms. These included independent members of the board, independent members of the compensation committee of the board, and independent members of the audit committee of the board. The categorical indicator variables include duality and CEO ownership of less than 1% of the ﬁrm’s outstanding stock. Based on the foregoing arguments, there were ﬁve hypotheses (in the alternative form): H1. There is a signiﬁcant difference in performance between hospitality and nonhospitality ﬁrms. Control mechanisms are tested from H2 to H5. H2. There is a signiﬁcant difference in the percentage of independent members in committee between hospitality and nonhospitality ﬁrms. H3. There is a signiﬁcant difference in duality between hospitality and nonhospitality ﬁrms. H4. There is a signiﬁcant difference in CEO ownership representing less than 1% of outstanding stocks between hospitality and nonhospitality ﬁrms. H5. There is a signiﬁcant difference in earnings quality between hospitality and nonhospitality ﬁrms.

METHODOLOGY Data Collection We selected the following hospitality ﬁrms based on their SIC codes: (1) Eating and Drinking Places (two-digit SIC ¼ 58); (2) Hotels, Rooming Houses, Camps, and Other Lodging Places (two-digit SIC ¼ 70);

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(3) Amusement and Recreation (two-digit SIC ¼ 79); (4) Scheduled Air Transportation (four-digit SIC ¼ 4512); and (5) Water transport of passengers (four-digit SIC ¼ 4481, 4482, 4489). This study used three databases from 1998 to 2003 for corporate governance, ﬁrm characteristics, and managerial ownership. First, the Investor Research Responsibility Center (IRRC) provides information on corporate governance, such as board composition data, and information on each ﬁrm’s charter, bylaw provisions and anti-takeover provisions. Second, the ExecuComp data set provides annual data on executive compensation and managerial stock ownership. Third, the Compustat data set provides ﬁnancial variables. To compile the sample of hospitality and nonhospitality ﬁrms, we began with a population of 7,403 ﬁrm–year observations in the IRRC database for the period 1998–2003. From this population, we omitted ﬁrm–years with insufﬁcient data on all governance variables required for our analysis from the IRRC database (1,266 observations) and ﬁrm–years with insufﬁcient executive ownership/compensation data from the ExecuComp database (638 observations). The ﬁnal sample consisted of 5,499 observations for which ﬁnancial variables were available in the Compustat database. Of these combined with IRRC, ExecuComp, and Compustat, 5,345 ﬁrm–year observations belong to the nonhospitality industry and 154 observations belong to the hospitality industry. Although ﬁve hospitality industries were included for the corporate governance analysis, no heteroscedasticity was found.

Statistical Analysis We employed the Wilcoxon rank-sum test to test differences in corporate governance, ﬁnancial variables, and earnings quality between hospitality and nonhospitality. The Wilcoxon rank-sum test is a nonparametric twosample test that is solely based on the order (rank) in which the observations from the two samples fall. The Wilcoxon rank-sum test assumes that the population distribution of the differences in matched pairs is symmetric. The null hypothesis is that this distribution is centered on 0 (Newbold, 1995). The Chi-square test was used to test the difference in categorical corporate governance variables such as duality and CEO ownership of less than 1% of a ﬁrm’s outstanding stocks. Chi-square test is used to standardize data by comparing the actual cell frequencies to expected cell frequencies. The marginal probabilities of its row and column are the expected cell frequency (Hair, Anderson, Titham, & Black, 1998).

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RESULTS Table 1 offers a glimpse into the differences in ﬁnancial variables between hospitality and nonhospitality ﬁrms. Since hospitality ﬁrms have higher leverage relative to other ﬁrms, we chose to control the ﬁrms cited in Table 2 such that the debt-to-total-assets ratio is within 25% (i.e., 75–125%) of the debt-to-total-assets ratio for each hospitality ﬁrm in the sample. If either hospitality or control ﬁrm did not have data for any of the variables, both ﬁrms were excluded. We have 92 hospitality ﬁrms and 92 (matched) control ﬁrms. Table 3 provides descriptive statistics for our hospitality and nonhospitality ﬁrms and two-sample Wilcoxon Z-tests for board independence differences across the two sets of ﬁrms. Table 4 reports the incidence of categorical variables for hospitality and nonhospitality ﬁrms. Table 5 presents descriptive statistics and two-sample Wilcoxon Z-tests of earnings quality for hospitality and nonhospitality ﬁrms.

DISCUSSION Hospitality ﬁrms are generally more proﬁtable (ROA), smaller in size (ASSET), have higher debt in the capital mix (DLTTAT), and undertake far greater capital expenditures as a ratio of total assets (CAPXAT). Nonhospitality ﬁrms have larger revenues (REVENUE) and larger total sales revenues per employee (REVEMP). There is a signiﬁcant difference in performance between hospitality and nonhospitality ﬁrms. Thus, lenders increase their monitoring of hospitality ﬁrms due to the presence of high debt and high capital expenditures. The results are shown in Table 1. When hospitality ﬁrms are compared with nonhospitality control ﬁrms, hospitality ﬁrms have higher rates of return – ROA, ROE, and EPS. Thus, accounting performance between hospitality and nonhospitality control ﬁrms signiﬁcantly differs. There is a signiﬁcant difference in performance between hospitality and nonhospitality ﬁrms. The results are shown in Table 2. Based on information offered in Tables 1 and 2, H1 cannot be rejected. Hospitality ﬁrms are managed by a compensation committee (PCTINDCM) and audit committee (PCTINDAD) that is less independent, and generally a less-independent board (PCTINDBD). Less board independence may be due to the degree of competition and proportion of insider ownership. Lower independence of the compensation and audit committees may result in high CEO compensation and large abnormal accruals. Although hospitality ﬁrms have less independence, their performance is on average relatively better than

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Table 1. Descriptive Statistics and Two-Sample Wilcoxon Z-Tests of Financial Variables for Hospitality and Nonhospitality Firms, 1998–2003. Independent Variable

Nonhospitality Firms (n ¼ 5,345) Mean (Median)

Hospitality Firms (n ¼ 154) Mean (Median)

Wilcoxon Z (p-Value)

3.19 (4.21) 0.06 (0.04) 5,514 (1,466) 10,626 (1,663) 384.85 (219.7) 20.53 (20.06)

6.15 (7.81) 0.13 (0.13) 3,095 (969) 3,834 (1,030) 104.61 (42.5) 23.80 (23.93)

4.910 (0.000) 13.769 (0.000) 1.662 (0.097) 3.156 (0.002) 16.353 (0.000) 2.150 (0.032)

ROA (%) CAPXAT REVENUE ASSET REVEMP DLTTAT (%)

Notes: ROA, return on assets deﬁned as operating income divided by total assets for ﬁrm i in year t; CAPXAT, ratio of capital expenditures to total assets at the beginning of the year; REVENUE, total sales revenue for ﬁrm i in year t; ASSET, total assets for ﬁrm i in year t; REVEMP, total sales revenue per employee; DLTTAT, ratio of long-term debt to total assets of the ﬁrm.

Table 2. Descriptive Statistics and Results of ANOVA for the Main Financial Variables. Variables

Hospitality Firms (n ¼ 92)a

Control Firms (n ¼ 92)a,b

Mean

Mean

Income before 99.9479 extraordinary items Net income 95.1613 Return on assets (ROA) 0.06 Return on equity 0.11 (ROE) EPS over lagged stock 0.03 price (EPS)

Median Standard deviation

F-Value

p-Value

Median Standard deviation

47.489

539.58

6.5085

1.341

59.13

3.54

0.0616

49.502 0.07 0.14

598.85 0.06 0.25

6.5091 0.09 0.55

1.341 0.01 0.04

59.44 0.34 2.18

2.63 18.40 8.70

0.1069 0.0000 0.0036

0.20

0.01

0.01

14.58

0.0002

0.06

0.12

Notes: ROA, net income/average asset; ROE, net income/average equity; EPS, net income/ average share outstanding. a The sample is a reduced sample due to unavailability of data. b Control ﬁrms are chosen such that debt to total assets ratio is within 25% (i.e., 75–125%) of the debt to total assets ratio for each of the hospitality ﬁrm in our sample.

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that of nonhospitality ﬁrms. Therefore, H2 cannot be rejected. The results are shown in Table 3. Chi-square tests of the categorical governance variable suggest that the CEOs of hospitality ﬁrms are more likely to be board chairs (DUALITY). Thus, H3 cannot be rejected. Since rate of return is larger in hospitality ﬁrms (Table 1), duality in hospitality ﬁrms may lead to better performance through leadership. However, duality may also impair board independence among hospitality ﬁrms and bring less independence. In hospitality ﬁrms, a lower proportion of CEOs own less than 1% of the ﬁrm’s outstanding stocks (OWNLESS), indirectly suggesting that high managerial ownership may dilute a ﬁrm’s performance. Hence, H4 cannot be rejected. The results are shown in Table 4. Table 3. Descriptive Statistics and Two-Sample Wilcoxon Z-Tests of Governance Variables on Hospitality and Nonhospitality Firms, 1998–2003. Independent Variable

Nonhospitality Firms (n ¼ 5,345) Mean (Median)

Hospitality Firms (n ¼ 154) Mean (Median)

Wilcoxon Z (p-Value)

65.13 (66.7) 89.17 (100) 87.17 (100)

59.08 (60) 86.30 (100) 83.82 (100)

4.643 (0.000) 1.915 (0.056) 2.383 (0.017)

PCTINDBD PCTINDCM PCTINDAD

Notes: PCTINDBD, the percentage of independent members of the board; PCTINDCM, the percentage of independent members of the compensation committee of the board; PCTINDAD, the percentage of independent members of the audit committee of the board.

Table 4. Independent Variable

DUALITY OWNLESS1

Chi-Square Tests of Categorical Variables for Hospitality and Nonhospitality Firms, 1998–2003. Number (Percentage) of Firms with the Attribute Non-hospitality ﬁrms

Hospitality ﬁrms

3,703 (0.69) 589 (0.11)

117 (0.76) 6 (0.04)

Pearson Chi-Square (p-Value)

3.16 (0.08) 7.87 (0.01)

Notes: DUALITY, a dummy variable that indicates whether the ﬁrm’s CEO is the chairman of the board (DUALITY ¼ 1) or otherwise (DUALITY ¼ 0); OWNLESS, a dummy variable that indicates whether the ﬁrm’s CEO owns less that 1% of the outstanding stocks of the ﬁrm (OWNLESS ¼ 1) or otherwise (OWNLESS ¼ 0).

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Hospitality ﬁrms report conservative earnings relative to those for nonhospitality ﬁrms (CFOPINC), and have generally higher-quality earnings as suggested by the Ball and Shivakumar residuals (B&S RES1 and B&S RES2). So, H5 cannot be rejected. Earnings are of higher quality if accounting income captures the cash ﬂow effects of transactions (Ahmed, Billings, Morton, & Stanford-Harris, 2002; Ball & Shivakumar, 2006). The results are shown in Table 5. Corporate governance mechanisms (independence of board, duality, CEO ownership, and earnings quality) differ signiﬁcantly between hospitality and nonhospitality ﬁrms. Table 5. Descriptive Statistics and Two-Sample Wilcoxon Z-Tests of Earnings Quality for Hospitality and Nonhospitality Firms, 1998–2003. Independent Variable CFOPINC SDINCCF B&S RES1 B&S RES2

Nonhospitality Firms (n ¼ 3,812) Hospitality Firms (n ¼ 125) Mean (Median) Mean (Median) 1.27 (0.96) 1.07 (1.01) 0.002 (0.011) 0.003 (0.012)

1.78 (1.12) 1.00 (0.96) 0.004 (0.001) 0.04 (0.001)

Wilcoxon Z (p-Value) 3.604 (0.000) 1.234 (0.217) 3.800 (0.000) 3.973 (0.000)

Notes: CFOPINC, the ratio of cash ﬂow from operations to operating earnings; SDINCCF, standard deviation of the operating income to operating cash ﬂows from 1985 to the sample year; B&S RES1, the residuals obtained from the following equation (see Ball & Shivakumar, 2006) multiplied by 1. TAit DREVit GPPEit DCFit DCFit ¼ a0 þ a1 þ a2 þ a3 þ a4 DDCFit þ a5 DDCFit þ eit Ait1 Ait1 Ait1 Ait1 Ait1

ð1Þ

where TAit is total accruals for ﬁrm i in year t, DREVit the change in i’s total revenue from t1 to t, GPPEit the gross acquisition cost of property, plant, and equipment for ﬁrm i in year t, Ait1 the value of average total assets for ﬁrm i in year t1, DCFit the one period change in cash ﬂow for ﬁrm i, and DDCFit a dummy variable that is equal to 1 if DCFit is negative and 0 otherwise. B&S RES2, the residuals obtained from the following equation (see Ball & Shivakumar, 2006) multiplied by 1. TAit DREVit DRECit GPPEit DCFit þ a2 ¼ a0 þ a1 a3 Ait1 Ait1 Ait1 Ait1 DCFit þ a4 DDCFit þ a5 DDCFit þ eit Ait1

ð2Þ

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CONCLUSION Among ﬁrms that have introduced governance control mechanisms to handle agency problems, debt ratio is higher in hospitality than in nonhospitality ﬁrms; other control mechanisms are lower in hospitality than in nonhospitality ﬁrms; and there is a greater possibility of agency problems in hospitality ﬁrms. Hospitality ﬁrms tend to grant greater powers to CEOs and typically have a less-independent board. Furthermore, hospitality-ﬁrm CEOs are more likely to chair the board relative to CEOs of nonhospitality ﬁrms. Duality (i.e., CEO also acting as board chair) may lead to a less-independent board. Hospitality ﬁrms enjoy a better ﬁnancial performance than nonhospitality ﬁrms. It is possible that CEOs dual role improves strategic leadership for the ﬁrm. Hospitality ﬁrms need to have more independent board members and lower duality to reduce agency problems. This study is the ﬁrst corporate governance study of the hospitality industry. Although much research has been conducted on hospitality corporations, none have looked at differences relating to agency problems between hospitality and nonhospitality ﬁrms. The corporate governance mechanism in hospitality ﬁrms was investigated in this study. Future study may examine the relationship between corporate governance and investment decisions such as acquisitions and mergers. Other control mechanisms for agency problems, such as institutional shareholding, require investigation. It is also crucial to learn whether corporate governance measures can improve the quality of accounting earnings. Further, agency problems can be studied by examining the relationship between inside directors and overall board effectiveness. Another study can be conducted on managerial ownership and board changes linked to CEO turnover and corporate control threats. Since the impact of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act has not been examined in the hospitality industry, it is necessary to do so. While this study focuses on agency theory, stakeholder and managerial shareholdings may explain corporate governance mechanisms. Since ownership and control differ depending on country, comparative study among the United States, Europe, and Asia will reveal different corporate governance mechanisms in international hospitality ﬁrms.

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COMPARISON OF HOSPITALITY PRACTITIONERS AND STUDENT/PRACTITIONER WORK VALUES Po-Ju Chen and Dana V. Tesone ABSTRACT This study identiﬁed differences of work values between two types of hospitality workforce members: hospitality industry practitioners and hospitality student/practitioners. A total of 398 nonstudent practitioners were randomly selected from various hospitality organizations to participate in this study. There were 828 student practitioners included in the data collected from a hospitality management college. Fifteen values were identiﬁed along with their hierarchical order. Three-dimensional work value structure shared by hospitality-major student/practitioners and industry practitioners were revealed. They are: General Work Values, Management Work Values, and Hospitality Work Values. The differences of the three dimensions among the four categories of student practitioners and industry practitioners were identiﬁed. Furthermore, work values were found to differ by gender. Implications are drawn for industry managers as well as educators.

Advances in Hospitality and Leisure, Volume 5, 141–161 Copyright r 2009 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1745-3542/doi:10.1108/S1745-3542(2009)0000005012

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INTRODUCTION Hospitality management programs in colleges and universities are viewed as critical for cultivating and preparing an academically qualiﬁed future hospitality industry managerial workforce. Aligning work values with student’s personal work preference leads to future job satisfaction (Kalleberg, 1977). For this reason, a number of studies have been conducted to investigate hospitality management student work values and related constructs, such as cultural differences (e.g., Chen, Chu, & Wu, 2000; White, 2005). Work values are the underlying preferences and beliefs that should be satisﬁed in people’s career choices (Brown, 2002; Sukiennik, Bendat, & Raufman, 1989; Ginzberg, Gingburg, Axelrad, & Herma, 1951; Sagie, Elizur, & Koslowsky, 1996). Occupations and career choices are constantly impacted by factors such as intrapersonal characteristics (i.e., maturing individuals) and situational variables (such as social-cultural impact) (Brown, 1996, 2002; Ginzberg et al., 1951; Super, 1957). These factors not only provide opportunities, but also create threats in the workplace. Individual values are prioritized in terms of importance relative to ones’ speciﬁc goals (Brown, 2002; Rokeach, 1973). Furthermore, cultural and work values inﬂuence career decision-making processes (Brown, 1996; Hotchkiss & Borow, 1996). Thus, the hierarchical order of individual work values inﬂuences individual occupational behavior (Adkins, Russell, & Werbel, 1994; Elizur, Borg, Hunt, & Beck, 1991; Rokeach, 1973). Hence, individual well being and job satisfaction might be greatly impacted by a work values hierarchy. While many studies focusing on work-value implications have been conducted, few are speciﬁcally focused on the workforce of the hospitality and tourism industry (Chen & Choi, 2008; Chen et al., 2000). This dearth of research poses opportunities for researchers to contribute new knowledge (e.g., Lewis & Airey, 2001), as well as for hospitality management curriculum design (e.g., Okumus & Yagci, 2006). Hence, the purpose of this study was to investigate the similarities and differences of work values between hospitality industry practitioners and hospitality-major students. The ﬁndings of the study provide points of interest relevant to hospitality educators, as well as industry managers in at least one metropolitan statistical area.

LITERATURE Work Values Individual’s values are beliefs that are formed by the individual as standards, which guide how he or she should function (Rokeach, 1973).

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These beliefs are cognitive structures that also have behavioral and affective dimensions. ‘‘Individuals’ values are the basis of their self-evaluation and their evaluation of others, and they play a major role in the establishment of personal goals’’ (Brown, 2002, p. 80). Rokeach (1973) argued the individuals’ life goals reﬂect their speciﬁc life values. These life values are prioritized according to their importance (Rokeach, 1973). Goals, as deﬁned by Lewin (1935), are cognitive representations of mental states that consumers strive to attain. Individuals’ behaviors are goal directed (Bagozzi & Dholakia, 1999). Goals do not just affect individuals’ behavioral observations, but most importantly can cause individuals’ complete concentrated attention to plan, implement, and evaluate the goal-directed behaviors for achieving the desired goals (Locke & Latham, 1990). Goals are formed with the underlying inﬂuences by experiences (acquired knowledge) and future potential achievements. According to Schwarz (1990, p. 43) ‘‘Work values refer to the goals or rewards people seek through their work. They are expressions of more general human values in the context of the work setting.’’ Rokeach (1973) stated personal values ‘‘are relatively stable over time’’ and ‘‘are hierarchically ordered in terms of their relative importance to the individual’’ (cited in Lyons, Duxbury, and Higgins (2005, p. 764)). Individuals’ underlying preferences and beliefs represent the goals in people’s pursuits of career choices (Brown, 2002; Sukiennik et al., 1989; Ginzberg et al., 1951). Work values are inﬂuenced by individuals’ knowledge, skills, and work experiences (Airey & Frontistis, 1997; Getz, 1994; Lewis & Airey, 2001; Singh & Greenhaus, 2004; Super, 1957) and cultural environment (Hofstede, 1980). Both cultural environment and work values inﬂuence career decisionmaking processes (Brown, 1996; Hotchkiss & Borow, 1996). Further, variation in work values is inﬂuenced by the workforce’s socio-demographic characteristics (Kalleberg, 1977). Work satisfaction and work values have a closer relationship (Kern, 1998) than that of personal interests and work values (Rounds, 1990). That is, job satisfaction is determined by the close ﬁt of job attributes to a worker’s personal preferences (Adkins et al., 1994). Zytowski (1994, p. 26) argued ‘‘work values have attained a status equaling that of abilities and interests in the array of individual differences that are considered important in career development.’’ Therefore, individuals perceive work values as one of the most important life values and one of the most important goals to pursue. There are speciﬁc values associated with work and might be considered as the goals that individuals pursue. Hence, values are identiﬁed by individuals and prioritized in terms of the importance of the value to the individual’s speciﬁc goal-driven pursuit (Brown, 2002; Rokeach, 1973). Thus, individual life values and work values can be prioritized in a hierarchical order. The hierarchical order of

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individual values inﬂuences their occupational behavior (Elizur & Koslowsky, 2001; Rokeach, 1973). Hence, individual well being (e.g., job satisfaction) may be greatly impacted by a work values hierarchy. Over half of a century ago, Super (1957) introduced his concept of work values and since then his concept and vision have been the driving force for vocational theory research and vocational programs (Zytowski, 1994). Later, Super (1970) operationally deﬁned the construct with the publication of the reﬁned Work Values Inventory (WVI). Subsequently the 15 work values (altruism, esthetics, creativity, intellectual stimulation, independence, achievement, prestige, management, economic returns, security, surroundings, supervisory relations, associates, variety, and way of life) ‘‘were cast in a Likertscaled rating format, which proved to be most reliable (Super, 1973)’’ (cited in Zytowski, 1994, p. 26). Donald Super’s concept of work values has had signiﬁcant inﬂuence on vocational theory since its inception 40 years ago. This revolutionary concept has been ‘‘incorporated into vocational theory, either explicitly, as in the theory of work adjustment (Dawis & Lofquist, 1984), or implicitly, in a number of career education programs’’ (Zytowski, 1994, p. 25). The WVI ‘‘is most appropriate as a career exploration tool . . . and along with the Minnesota Importance Questionnaire (MIQ . . . ) are the most psychometrically sound of the work values needs measures (Bolton, 1985)’’ (Hackett & Watkins, 1995, p. 193). The WVI has the edge over the MIQ because of ease of administration and interpretation (Hackett & Lonborg, 1994, p. 68). Furthermore, the WVI has been popular among scholars because of its ‘‘proven reliability and validity (Kanchier & Unruh, 1989; White, 2005; Zytowski, 1994)’’ (Chen & Choi, 2008, p. 565). Past literature has shown that many scholars have addressed work value attributes of the WVI (e.g., Chen & Choi, 2008; Chen et al., 2000; Hackett & Lonborg, 1994; White, 2005). In searching for providing speciﬁc instruments to measure individuals’ work values under various conceptualizations, a large number of measurement scales of work values have been developed (e.g., Super and Nevill’s (1985) Values Scale, VS). For example, there were a number of important work values measurement scales developed during the 1980s and 1990s (e.g., Hofstede, 1980; Elizur et al., 1991). According to Zytowski (1994, p. 26) the most important ones during that decade (1980–1991) are: The Values Survey Module (VSM) by Hofstede (1980); MIQ by Rounds, Henly, Dawis, Lofquist, and Weiss’s (1981); Work Aspect Preference Scale (WAPS) by Pryor (1983); the VS by Super and Nevill (1985); Salience Inventory (SI) by Nevill and Super (1986); and Work Value Questionnaire (WVQ) by Elizur et al. (1991). With Super’s initiative and coordination, a number of researchers from several countries applied the 1979 launched Work Importance Study (WIS) in

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their studies (Sˇverko, 2001). The VS was developed as part of the WIS when the participating researchers noticed the importance of life-role salience and various cultural environments in a work values research. The VS ‘‘contains 21 scales measuring both work-related and general values’’ (Hackett & Lonborg, 1994, p. 68). This innovation ‘‘recognizes that the individuals can gratify important values in roles other than work’’ (Collin & Young, 2000, p. 64). Thus, the VS has been used for measuring work values and general life values. Further, the ‘‘VS appears to overcome one of the WVI’s limitations (i.e., designed for full-time workers only) (Super, 1995) and can also be applied to cross-cultural studies (Collin & Young, 2000)’’ (Chen & Choi, 2008, p. 562). In addition to suggesting the importance assigned to work outcomes, the development of the WVQ was initiated because of a ‘‘facet deﬁnition of work values was suggested that provided guidelines for constructing the Work Values Questionnaire and the formulation of hypotheses regarding the structure of relationships among components of work values’’ (Elizur et al., 1991, p. 21). The WVQ has also been adopted by a large number of scholars in the past two decades as well. Recently a number of speciﬁc VSs have been developed such as The Asian Values Scale, The Asian American Values Scale, and the Material Values Scale. While most other scholars studied the then ‘‘hot topic,’’ attitude change in experimental social psychology, Rokeach (1973) concentrated on values research. His research produced a highly readable summary of human values and the ways human values change. As a result, he suggested a typology of human values with a simpler method to measure individual human values. Thus, ‘‘Work values have been conceived as needs (Super, 1970), importance (Lofquist & Dawis, 1971), preferences (Pryor, 1981), and personal values (George & Jones, 1997)’’ (Chu, 2008, p. 321). Therefore, the structural approach was used ‘‘to identify the basic components of speciﬁc constructs, [which] suggests a deﬁnitional framework of its domain, and tests the deﬁnition empirically’’ (Sagie et al., 1996, p. 504). During the past several decades, scholars have been conducting research on the development of typologies of work value attributes. Among ‘‘those are intrinsic (e.g., intellectual stimulation, psychologically rewarding) and extrinsic (e.g., economic return, job security) domains (Elizur, 1984; Herzberg, Mausner, & Snyderman, 1959; Zytowski, 1970), modality (instrumental, cognitive, affective attributes) and system performance contingency (Elizur, 1984), as well as social and prestige aspects (Ros, Schwartz, & Surkiss, 1999)’’ (Chen & Choi, 2008, p. 563). Zytowski (1970) also argued that most scholars agree that work values consist of two fundamental types: the intrinsic work values and extrinsic work values

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(e.g., Mok, Pine, & Pizam, 1998). Intrinsic work values associate with psychological fulﬁllment or satisfaction from working (e.g., challenging tasks) and extrinsic work values associate with material rewards (e.g., beneﬁts). However, individuals’ work values change with time (Sagie et al., 1996; Super, 1980, 1995). Super (1995) reported that life roles change based on people’s life cycle which impacts the work values and the importance of work. Collin and Young (2000) stated that ‘‘although Rokeach (1973) emphasized the relative stability of values, work values are sensitive to change in work and related social conditions over time (Kopper, 1993; Nord et al., 1990)’’ (p. 74). For example, Kanchier and Unruh’s (1989) study found their informants’ work values priorities shifted with age, and Chen and Choi (2008) found hospitality practitioners (managers) work values and its hierarchy changes with age and among generational cohorts.

Work Values and the Hospitality Industry Most scholars have conducted research on work values associated with career, vocational, and organizational related subjects. There are a number of studies utilizing hospitality and tourism management students or graduates as informants in their research on perceptions about careers or experiences in working in the industry (e.g., Pizam & Lewis, 1979). For example, Kusluvan and Kusluvan (2000) investigated hospitality and tourism students’ attitudes and perception toward working in the hospitality and tourism industry. They found that more than half of the students surveyed entered the college without sufﬁcient information about the industry employment conditions. They also found most students’ perception about working in the industry were unfavorable (e.g., long working hours). Therefore, hospitality and tourism students whom they surveyed did not have strong commitment toward working in the industry. Chen et al. (2000) also utilized the WVI to investigate hospitality students in Taiwan and found the students viewed supervisory relations the most important aspect of working in the industry. They also discovered the surveyed students’ hierarchical ranking of work values with a three-dimensional work values structure (achievement seekers, income movers, and liberal workers). Additionally, they concluded that male students valued economic return as the most important work value (i.e., income movers). Jenkins (2001) surveyed hospitality management students from two universities in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, respectively and found ‘‘students

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have a distinct preference for certain hotel departments, hotel chains and sectors of the industry’’ and most students expected to be in general manager positions about ten years after graduation (p. 13). Jenkins also found the surveyed students’ perceptions of the hospitality industry deteriorated as they progressed in their college education. White (2005) used WVI and two levels of values (cultural and individual) to survey 276 hospitality management students from China and Europe and found the two groups considered both intrinsic and extrinsic work values as important. White’s ﬁndings also indicated that Chinese and European students’ work values were closely linked to individualism characteristics. However, there are only a few studies focusing on hospitality and tourism practitioners’ (e.g., managers) work values (Chen & Choi, 2008; Pizam, 1993). For example, Mok et al. (1998) surveyed 290 Chinese hotel managers and found working relations, quality of life, and economic reward were the most important work values for their survey. Wong and Chung (2003) applied Hofsted’s (1980) VSM model to survey managers from Hong Kong hotels and concluded that Chinese managers viewed supervisory relationships and economic reward to be the most important work values. Recently, Chen and Choi (2008) investigated hospitality practitioners’ (managers and supervisors) work values based on three generational characteristics (Baby Boomers, Generation Xers, and Millennials). In their study, they used the WVI and discovered the hierarchy of hospitality practitioners’ work values with a fourdimensional work values structure (Comfort & Security, Professional Growth, Personal Growth, and Work Environment) across three generations. In the last several decades hospitality and tourism educators, scholars, and industry practitioners have called for further specializations in hospitality and tourism management programs (e.g., Knowles, Teixeira, & Egan, 2003; Liu, 2006; Okumus & Yagci, 2006; O’Mahony & Sillitoe, 2001; Petrova & Mason, 2004). A few scholars have complained that hospitality and tourism educators have not provided students with ‘‘a realistic idea of what they can do when they graduate’’ (Harkison, 2005, p. 109). For example, Collins (2002) surveyed tourism and hotel management students and graduates about their perceptions of the effectiveness of tourism education and found there was an expanding need for university recognition of specialization due to new technologies and consumer maturation. This expanding need should be considered by hospitality educators to offer hospitality and tourism management curricula with ‘‘an improved mix between the academic and practical experience and second language inadequacies’’ (Collins, 2002, p. 151). The culmination of these studies provided the background of this study.

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METHODOLOGY Study Population In certain regions, students in hospitality management programs work parttime (some also may work full-time) in the industry while attending school. This is particularly popular among hospitality programs located in tourism destinations or close to resort areas. All of the respondents reported in this paper fall within this category and can be considered student/practitioners – or for brevity, simply students. These student/practitioners typically work alongside nonstudent practitioners (i.e., those who do not attend hospitality management programs) as well as with others who may not possess hospitality management degrees. This report simply refers to these people as practitioners or hospitality industry practitioners.

Data Collection The study employed a self-administered paper-and-pencil questionnaire with three sections: (1) occupational behavior, (2) work values, and (3) socio-demographic behavior. Super’s (1970) Work Value Inventory was adopted to assess the work values of the participating managers and student/practitioners. Forty-ﬁve statements representing 15 work values were identiﬁed. Using a 5-point scale, where 1 ¼ unimportant and 5 ¼ very important, respondents provided importance ratings for the 45 statements contained in the questionnaire. Each of the 15 work values were calculated within a range of 3–15, where 15 ¼ most important and 3 ¼ least important. Data were collected from two types of population categories: Hospitality industry practitioners and hospitality management student/practitioners. Industry practitioners consisted of managers and supervisors from a number of hospitality organizations located in a major tourism destination within the southeastern region of the United States. Six hundred surveys were distributed to practitioners working at various local hotels, restaurants, and attractions. This resulted in 398 useable practitioner questionnaires. Student participants consisted of approximately 1,500 hospitality management students who attended a hospitality management college located in the southeastern part of the United States while also employed in the industry. These student/practitioners provided a total of 828 useable questionnaires. Analysis of practitioner surveys revealed 50.6% of the respondents were female, while 49.4% were male. Ages ranged from 20 to 59 years old. Of the

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Table 1.

Demographic Proﬁle of Hospitality Practitioners and Student/ Practitioners. Hospitality Practitioners

Gender Female Male

Student/Practitioners

N

Percentage

N

Percentage

199 194 393

50.6 49.4 100.0

561 259 820

68.4 31.6 100.0

Age

Average: 37.7 years old (from 20 to 58 years old)

Average: 21 years old (from 17 to 29 years old)

Work experience in the industry (years) No experience 1–5 years 6–10 years 10–15 years 15–20 years 20 years and more Total

Average: 9.83

Average: 2.75

Class standing Freshmen Sophomores Juniors Seniors

0 151 89 62 37 39 378

0.0 41.0 24.2 16.9 7.3 10.6 100.0

174 539 99 7 3 0 822

21.2 65.5 12.2 0.8 0.3 0.0 100.0

N/A N/A N/A N/A

N/A N/A N/A N/A

45 166 432 180 823

5.5 20.2 52.5 21.9 100.0

student/practitioners who responded, 68.4% were female and 31.6% were male. The average age of these respondents was 21. Approximately 20% of the students did not have any formal hospitality industry work experience. Approximately 12% of the students surveyed were employed in hospitality organizations as part-time workers. Table 1 provides demographic proﬁles of practitioner and student/practitioner participants.

FINDINGS Work Values Frequency analysis was performed on the 15 work values to determine the importance rankings assigned both hospitality industry practitioners and

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student/practitioners. Among the 15 work values, Way of Life was ranked as the most important work value while Aesthetic was the least important for both practitioners and students. Practitioners ranked Way of Life, Achievement, Supervisory Relationship, and Altruism as the top four most important work values while Students ranked Way of Life, Supervisory Relationship, Economic Return, and Achievement as their top four work values. Practitioners viewed Security, Independence, Intellectual Stimulation, and Economic Return as the next four most important work values while students ranked Security, Prestige, Altruism, and Independence as their next four. It is important to note that students ranked Economic Return as the third most important work value while practitioners assigned it a relatively low eight ranking. Surprisingly, both groups ranked Management as the relatively least important work value. Table 2 provides the rankings of the 15 work values for both groups. To explore the underlying dimension of these 15 work values, principal component analysis using VARIMAX rotation was performed. This was followed by correlation matrix examination, the Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) test, and Bartlett’s test for sphericity. Factor analysis resulted in a 3-dimension-solution with 62.13% of the variance explained by the

Table 2.

The Comparison Rank Order of Hospitality Practitioners and Student/Practitioners Work Values.

Hospitality Practitioner N 387 387 387 387 387 387 387 387 387 387 387 387 387 387 387

Work Values

Mean

Std. dev.

Rank

13.7 13.6 13.5 13.2 13.1 13.0 12.9 12.9 12.8 12.6 12.4 12.4 12.2 11.7 10.8

1.6 1.6 2.0 1.8 2.1 1.7 1.6 1.8 1.8 2.0 1.8 1.9 2.0 2.3 2.6

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Way of Life Achievement Supervisory Relationship Altruism Security Independence Intellectual Stimulation Economic Return Creativity Prestige Variety Surrounding Management Associates Aesthetic

Note: The values of each work value ranging from 3 to 15.

Student/Practitioner Rank

N

Mean

Std. dev.

1 4 2 7 5 8 13 3 10 6 11 9 14 12 15

799 800 800 800 800 800 800 800 800 799 800 799 800 799 799

13.7 13.0 13.2 12.4 12.7 12.2 11.3 13.2 11.9 12.4 11.8 12.1 11.2 11.6 10.3

2.0 2.2 2.2 2.5 2.3 2.1 2.1 2.3 2.3 2.2 2.3 2.3 2.3 2.3 2.6

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components listed in Table 3. Based on item grouping commonality and consultations with organizational behavior scholars regarding content analysis, three dimensions were labeled: General Work Values, Management Work Values, and Hospitality Work Values (see Table 3). The ﬁrst dimension, General Work Values, included seven items: Economic Return, Supervisory Relationships, Security, Surroundings, Way of Life, Prestige, and Achievement. The second dimension, Management Work Values contained four items: Management, Independence, Creativity, and Variety. The third dimension, Hospitality Work Values, included four items: Aesthetic, Altruism, Associates, and Intellectual Stimulation. Internal consistency reliability procedures were then employed. The three dimensions were deemed ‘‘acceptable’’ and ‘‘adequate’’ with Cronbach’s alpha coefﬁcient scores (Nunnally, 1978) ranging from 0.69 to 0.89.

Table 3. Work Values

Supervisory Relationship Economic Return Security Way of Life Surrounding Prestige Achievement Management Independence Creativity Variety Aesthetic Altruism Associates Intellectual Stimulation Mean Std. dev. Eigenvalues N Cronbach alpha

Three Dimensions of Work Values.

General Work Values

Management Work Values

Hospitality Work Values

0.766 0.760 0.758 0.739 0.639 0.609 0.593 0.734 0.715 0.672 0.651 0.710 0.646 0.576 0.526 12.96 1.64 6.80 1,190 0.89

12.03 1.72 1.50 1,190 0.81

11.63 1.68 1.00 1,190 0.69

Note: Extraction Method, principal component analysis; Rotation Method, varimax with Kaiser normalization.

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Work Values Differences and Similarities In order to determine whether work values differed between practitioners and student/practitioners, one-way ANOVA procedures were performed. Student data was then categorized by class standing: freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior. The results indicated no signiﬁcant differences existed among practitioners and the four student categories pertaining to General Work Values. However, there were statistically signiﬁcant differences among practitioners and students for Management Work Values (F ¼ 13.748***, df ¼ 4,1182) and Hospitality Work Values (F ¼ 19.075***, df ¼ 4,1182). Hospitality practitioners valued Management Work Values and Hospitality Work Values more than sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Among those students surveyed, sophomores valued Management Work Values less than seniors and juniors. However, no signiﬁcant differences were found between freshman and the other study participants for the three dimensions identiﬁed in this study (see Table 4). One-way ANOVA procedures were once again performed to identify differences in work values by gender among practitioners and the student categories. The study ﬁndings indicated work values differed signiﬁcantly within gender groups (i.e., male practitioners vs. male students, and female practitioners vs. female students). The results indicated the mean General Work Values of female practitioners were slightly higher than that of female seniors. There were no signiﬁcant differences in General Work Values between female practitioners and the female freshmen, sophomores, and juniors. Furthermore female practitioners signiﬁcantly valued both Management Work Values (F ¼ 11.487***, df ¼ 4,736) and Hospitality Work Values (F ¼ 11.943***, df ¼ 4,736) more than female sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Yet no signiﬁcant differences were found between female freshmen and female practitioners across all three dimensions (see Table 5). Based on the same gender analysis (i.e., male practitioners vs. male students) male practitioners were found to value Management Work Values (F ¼ 12.346***, df ¼ 4,736) and Hospitality Work Values (F ¼ 5.243***, df ¼ 4,456) more so than male sophomores, juniors, and seniors. However, no signiﬁcant differences were found between male freshmen and male practitioners across all three dimensions (see Table 6).

DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS Study ﬁndings indicate different rankings of work values exist between practitioners and student/practitioners. Both practitioners and students

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Table 4. Work Values Dimensions by Hospitality Practitioners and Student/Practitioners Using One-Way Analysis of Variance. Mean

Std. Dev.

N

General Work Values Freshman 13.10 Sophomore 12.79 Junior 12.92 Senior 12.85 Industry 13.10 Total 12.96

1.31 1.76 1.78 1.88 1.32 1.64

44 161 423 172 387 1,187

Between groups Within groups Total

4 1,182 1,186

Management Work Values Freshman 11.97 Sophomore 11.34***a,b Junior 11.84***a,b Senior 11.94***a,b Industry 12.59***a Total 12.04

1.26 1.83 1.78 1.83 1.42 1.72

44 161 423 172 387 1,187

Between groups Within groups Total

4 1,182 1,186

19.075***

Hospitality Work Freshman Sophomore Junior Senior Industry Total

1.32 1.63 1.71 1.92 1.47 1.68

44 161 423 172 387 1,187

Between groups Within groups Total

4 1,182 1,186

13.748***

Values 11.82 11.27***c 11.43***c 11.37***c 12.13***c 11.64

df

F-Values

1.469

Note: Work value scores ranged from 3 ¼ least important to 15 ¼ the most important. ***Signiﬁcant at 0.001 level. Identical superscripts indicate signiﬁcant differences.

ranked Way of Life, Supervisory Relationship, and Security at the top of their hierarchies, while both ranked Aesthetic at the bottom. Since employee satisfaction, motivation, and commitment are the most important factors in maintaining a service organization’s competitive advantage (e.g., Kusluvan & Kusluvan, 2000) the work values hierarchies of both practitioners and students should be the basis for hospitality workforce retention and recruitment strategies. As such, hospitality industry organizations should consider translating these hierarchical work values into action (cf. Chen, 2008; Downward & Mearman, 2004; Pritchard & Havitz, 2006). That is, hospitality organizations should put more emphasis on the concepts of Way of Life, Supervisory Relationships, and Security and less on the Aesthetic work value. Furthermore, Way of Life, ranked at the very top of the work values hierarchies for both practitioners and students. Given this, Way of Life should be the goal of hospitality organizations that wish to satisfy the

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Table 5. Work Values Dimensions by Female Hospitality Practitioners and Student/Practitioners Using One-Way Analysis of Variance. Mean

Std. Dev.

N

df

F-Values

General Work Values Freshman 13.11 Sophomore 13.02 Junior 12.93 Senior 12.75*d Industry 13.31*d Total 13.02

1.24 1.48 1.80 2.01 1.24 1.64

31 111 296 109 194 741

Between groups Within groups Total

4 736 740

2.547*

Management Work Freshman Sophomore Junior Senior Industry Total

Values 11.89 11.59***e 11.76***e 11.62***e 12.64***e 11.95

1.15 1.74 1.78 1.94 1.41 1.73

31 111 296 109 194 741

Between groups Within groups Total

4 736 740

11.487***

Hospitality Work Values Freshman 11.90 Sophomore 11.47***f Junior 11.46***f Senior 11.51***f Industry 12.40***f Total 11.74

1.17 1.51 1.68 1.87 1.37 1.64

31 111 296 109 194 741

Between groups Within groups Total

4 736 740

11.943***

Note: Work value scores ranged from 3 ¼ least important to 15 ¼ the most important. *Signiﬁcant at 0.05 level, ***signiﬁcant at 0.001 level. Identical superscripts indicate signiﬁcant differences.

career objectives of current and future employees and managers. The underlying reason for such a high ranking could be the trend among those in the hospitality industry to seek balance between their professional and private lives. This is particularly important given it is common knowledge globally that undesirable working conditions (e.g., low pay, long hours, working weekends, and holidays) exist within the hospitality industry. This perception has been addressed by many studies performed throughout the world (e.g., Chen et al., 2000 (Taiwan); Harkison, 2005 (New Zealand); Knowles et al., 2003 (Brazil and the UK); Kusluvan & Kusluvan, 2000 (Turkey); O’Leary & Deegan, 2005 (Ireland); O’Mahony & Sillitoe, 2001 (Australia); Pizam & Thornburg, 2000 (the US); White, 2005 (the UK, the US, Switzerland, France, Sweden, Spain, and the Netherlands)). It is not an easy task to correct undesirable working conditions, but improvements are

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Comparison of Hospitality and Student/Practitioner Work Values

Table 6. Work Values Dimensions by Male Hospitality Practitioners and Student/Practitioners Using One-Way Analysis of Variance. Mean

Std. Dev.

N

df

F-Values

General Work Values Freshman 13.09 Sophomore 12.25 Junior 12.90 Senior 13.03 Industry 12.89 Total 12.84

1.52 2.21 1.77 1.64 1.37 1.65

13 50 124 63 190 440

Between groups Within groups Total

4 435 439

1.943

Management Work Values Freshman 12.17 Sophomore 10.80***g Junior 12.04***g Senior 12.48***g Industry 12.54***g Total 12.18

1.52 1.93 1.80 1.50 1.43 1.69

13 50 124 63 190 440

Between groups Within groups Total

4 435 439

12.346***

Hospitality Work Values Freshman 11.65 Sophomore 10.83***f Junior 11.37 Senior 11.13*f Industry 11.88***f Total 11.50

1.65 1.82 1.76 1.99 1.52 1.73

13 50 124 63 190 440

Between groups Within groups Total

4 435 439

5.243***

Note: Work value scores ranged from 3 ¼ least important to 15 ¼ the most important. *Signiﬁcant at 0.05 level, ***signiﬁcant at 0.001 level. Identical superscripts indicate signiﬁcant differences.

necessary for employee retention and recruitment as well as management operations (cf. Hinkin & Tracey, 2000; Kusluvan & Kusluvan, 2000). One way industry could address this shortcoming is to develop corporate wide strategies emphasizing they recognize the importance of balance between professional and private life. Differences in the rankings of work values between hospitality practitioners and students warrants further investigation to determine their underlying causes. Once better understood, the underlying causes could translate into hospitality management curriculum modiﬁcations, which could better prepare students to meet the real world challenges they will face in the workplace. Second, this study identiﬁed three dimensions of work values (General Work Values, Management Work Values, and Hospitality Work Values) perceived by both hospitality practitioners and hospitality students. The

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ﬁndings showed no signiﬁcant differences existed between practitioners and students on the General Work Value dimension. Four of the seven dimension work values, Way of Life, Supervisory Relationships, Achievement, and Security, also ranked as the top ﬁve work values by both practitioners and students. That is, the most important work values (Way of Life, Supervisory Relationship, and Job Security) had not signiﬁcantly changed for those practitioners since graduating from college (cf. Rokeach, 1973). Therefore, both practitioners and students shared a high degree of congruence for the top ranked work values; especially Way of Life and Supervisory Relationship (cf. Brown, 2002). However, this ﬁnding was limited to the top ranked work values. Furthermore, 41% of those practitioners surveyed and 61.5% of participating student/practitioners had between 1 and 5 years of work experience, which might explain why ‘‘no signiﬁcant changes’’ existed among practitioners and students. As for those work values associated with Management Work Values and Hospitality Work Values, the study ﬁndings revealed work values change with age and stage of life as concluded by Kanchier and Unruh (1989) and Super (1995). Kanchier and Unruh (1989) found ‘‘the work values, work meanings, and career goals of the managers interviewed were similar. However ‘these work attitudes portrayed distinct patterns or themes that represented their value hierarchies’ (p. 114)’’ (Chen & Choi, 2008, p. 561). Again, these ﬁndings could be used to design hospitality management education programs as well to develop hospitality corporate strategies. For example, emphasizing specialized hospitality education programs could fortify student commitment toward working in the industry. In addition, specializations for the hospitality and tourism education system might also be necessary to meet demands from business as well as leisure travelers – such as assisting tech savvy guests with Internet access issues. In order to accommodate changes associated with rapid advancements in technology, work values should be considered. If not adequately addressed, students could discover they lack the skills necessary for specialized areas, which could ultimately lead to frustration and disappointment, which threaten the balance between professional and private life hospitality organizations seek to emphasize. As the main purpose of specialization is to better serve the industry and to equip hospitality management students with a realistic idea of what they will be asked to do when they join the hospitality workforce (cf. Harkison, 2005), this should not be taken lightly. However, signiﬁcant differences were noted among practitioners and student practitioners on the other two dimensions. Practitioners valued Management Work Values and Hospitality Work Values more than their

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student/practitioner counterparts – except for freshmen. Other than those seven work values contained in the General Work Values dimension, work values such as Management, Independence, Altruism, and Intellectual Stimulation were valued more so by practitioners. This ﬁnding implies that work values can change, but some work values, such as those contained in the General Work Values dimension, are more stable than those associated with the other two dimensions. Therefore, it is suggested that future studies focus on how, when, and under what conditions work values change. Interestingly, the study results showed freshmen student/practitioners and industry practitioners shared similar views on all three dimensions of work values. However, when comparing Management Work Values and Hospitality Work Values, student scores were found to be signiﬁcantly lower than those of practitioners – with freshmen once again being the exception. Jenkins (2001) concluded hospitality industry perceptions of students from the United Kingdom and Netherlands deteriorated as they progressed from freshmen to seniors. Could this perception deterioration be related to a progression of college education? What were the underlying causes that contributed to this phenomenon? Further investigation of the underlying causes for this phenomenon is recommended. Third, this study found gender related similarities and differences exist among practitioners and student/practitioners. This study performed several analyses between practitioners and students of the same gender (i.e., male practitioners vs. male students, and female practitioners vs. female students). When freshmen were excluded from the comparison process, both male and female practitioners valued Management Work Values and Hospitality Work Values signiﬁcantly higher than their male and female student counterparts. This ﬁnding showed similar results as the comparisons on Management Work Values and Hospitality Work Values dimensions discussed earlier between practitioners and students without the consideration of gender. Similarly, with respect to male and female freshmen students, the study ﬁndings showed no signiﬁcant differences were found between male or female freshmen and male or female practitioners on all three dimensions. Again, this ﬁnding is similar as that discussed earlier when the comparisons were made without the considerations of gender. This implies that gender was not an inﬂuential factor on either practitioners’ or students’ work values. However, according to Elizur’s (1994, p. 210) study conclusions, ‘‘although the structure of the domain was found to be similar for men and women, they differed to a certain degree in their rating of many of the value items.’’ In order to validate this implication, future studies

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focusing on the similarities and differences of work values between male practitioners and female practitioners are recommended. There are limitations associated with this study. For example, since a majority of students typically do not declare majors until their sophomore years, the lack of an adequate number of freshman respondents might cause a limitation in the generalizability of the study results. In summary, this study found similarities and differences in work values exist between hospitality management student/practitioners and industry practitioners. The hierarchical work values and the three dimensions of work values revealed for hospitality practitioners and hospitality management students should be considered by hospitality organizations when formulating strategic plans, as well as by hospitality educators involved with curriculum design.

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DEVELOPING A FOOD AND WINE SEGMENTATION AND CLASSIFYING DESTINATIONS ON THE BASIS OF THEIR FOOD AND WINE SECTORS Michelle Thompson and Bruce Prideaux ABSTRACT This paper tests the potential for the food and wine tourism model developed by Hall and Sharples to be used as a tool for identifying speciﬁc food and wine segments in a destination. Using Cairns, Australia, as a case study a survey of tourists identiﬁed three food and wine segments and conﬁrmed the ability of the model to be used to classify the destination’s position as a food and wine destination based on the categories developed by Hall and Sharples. Results of the survey indicate that while almost all participants experienced the destination’s food and wine products, only one group of respondents (45%) self-identiﬁed as food and wine tourists. A second group participated in food and wine experiences but did not select speciﬁc destinations on the basis of the destination’s food and wine sector. A third group expressed no interest in food and wine as a tourist experience but did consume unique food and wine as part of the overall tourist experience. The research found that the food and wine tourism model developed by Hall and Sharples was a useful tool for both Advances in Hospitality and Leisure, Volume 5, 163–183 Copyright r 2009 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1745-3542/doi:10.1108/S1745-3542(2009)0000005013

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identifying the stage of development of the food and wine industry and planning strategies to develop the sector. The paper concludes by outlining a number of implications for marketing food and wine tourism.

INTRODUCTION In recent decades food and wine have become cultural symbols of status and identity, leading to changes in the way many people view the consumption of food and wine when on holidays. In Australia, regions such as the Hunter and Barossa Valleys and Margaret River have capitalized on this interest in wine and more recently food to develop as specialized food and wine destinations. Similar regions have been developed in California, New Zealand, Chile, South Africa, and Europe. Flowing from this increasing interest is a growing food and wine culture exempliﬁed by celebrity chefs including Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsey in the UK, television cooking programs and fashionable restaurants associated with these individuals, as well as specialist magazines and even themed tourist regions. Moreover, the increasing association of wine and food with good living, afﬂuence, and a sophisticated lifestyle has encouraged some elements of contemporary society to embrace the consumption of high-quality, locally grown produce. Considered by some as one of the key elements of the tourist experience, both food and wine have received growing attention in the literature (Hall & Sharples, 2003). The purpose of this study was to test the capacity of a model developed by Hall and Sharples (2003) to be used as a tool for identifying the position of the food and wine sector in a destination on a continuum where food and wine tourism is not well developed to a position where it is highly developed. The model also has the potential to be used as a tool that assists destinations develop their food and wine sector. To test the model the Cairns region in northeast Australia was selected as a case study. While producing fruit wine rather than grape wine the region has a large range of exotic fruits, vegetables, cheeses, coffee, tea, and seafood, enabling it to offer a unique regional food and wine experience. However, the food and wine sector has been largely ignored by the region’s tourism industry, partly because the food and wine sector has not developed a strong lobbying voice nor produced the data required to substantiate its claims of tourist demand for regional food and wine products. If applied successfully, the model has the potential to be used as a planning tool to assist destinations develop a food and wine tourism sector, provided appropriate food and wine resources are available.

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A review of the literature indicates a growing body of research on wine tourism (Getz, 2000; Mitchell & Hall, 2006), food tourism (Hjagler & Richards, 2002), and food and wine tourism (Boniface, 2003). Research on the general topic of food tourism may be categorized into three main subareas: food, wine, and food and wine combined. Considered a subset of food tourism (Mitchell & Hall, 2006), wine tourism is often recognized as a specialist niche area. Food tourism generally refers to food, and sometimes incorporates a wine element that is ancillary to the food experience. More recently, studies have begun to focus on food and wine as a complementary experience (Mitchell & Hall, 2006; Boniface, 2003) or central components of a more holistic food and wine tourism experience. This is evidence of a growing acknowledgment of the interrelationship between wine tourism and food tourism research (Mitchell & Hall, 2006). For example, gastronomy and culinary tourism are terms often used to describe the partnering of food and wine experiences in this manner.

Modeling Food and Wine Destination Development Hall and Sharples (2003) developed a model that classiﬁes food and wine tourism as a form of special interest tourism. As illustrated in Fig. 1, food and wine tourism may be classiﬁed as gourmet, gastronomic, cuisine, or culinary tourism, depending on the level of special interest in food as a travel motivator. As the motivation to experience food and wine while traveling grows, destinations with appropriate levels of food and wine resources are able to develop increasingly sophisticated food and wine experiences, which may lead to the emergence of gourmet tourism. For example, Hall and Sharples’s category of urban tourism identiﬁes tourists who have a low level of interest in food and wine but who may visit a local market, winery, or restaurant as part of their trip. As the motivation to participate in food and wine experiences increases, tourists engage in more food- and wine-related activities, potentially leading to the development of gastronomic tourism where food and wine forms the primary travel motivation and most, if not all, activities participated in are food and wine related. Although the classiﬁcations used in the model have similarities, there are subtle differences that need to be understood as they indicate potential dimensions of the food tourism market. The signiﬁcance of this model lies in its ability to identify those consumers for whom a special interest in food and wine is a form of ‘‘serious leisure.’’ It also has the potential to be used by emerging food and wine regions to identify their position on the model

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Fig. 1.

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Development of Food and Wine Tourism as Niche and Special-Interest Tourism. Source: Hall and Sharples (2003).

and indicate what infrastructure may be required to develop into a food and wine destination. To date, Hall and Sharples’s model has not been tested to determine the development opportunities for food and wine tourism in speciﬁc destinations. Linking tourism with food and wine, through restaurants, wineries, and farms, is not a new concept and has been successfully developed in Europe over a long period of time. In France, for example, the Champagne region has developed an international reputation for wine excellence as well as gastronomy. This pattern has been repeated in other regions such as Provence, Tuscany, and the Napa Valley. In Australia, food and wine represent an opportunity for developing new tourism experiences based on the elevation of food and wine consumption from a daily need to a pleasurable experience that should occur in social settings such as restaurants and food markets, or at home with friends. According to Tourism Australia (2005) and Tourism Queensland (2003), the majority of international tourists regularly dine out at restaurants and cafes during their holidays; however, most of these visitors cannot be described as food and wine tourists because food and wine is not the major motivation for their trip to Queensland. On a national scale, a ‘‘natural partnership’’ between food, wine, and tourism has been recognized and encouraged by Australia’s

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tourism industry (AWTC, 2005) as a means of enhancing the economic viability of urban centers and rural regions in particular. For rural communities struggling to retain viable agricultural industries, the collaboration between food and wine production and tourism creates an excellent opportunity for product development and rural diversiﬁcation, provided that the climate and soils are suitable. Considerable research has focused on wine tourism, especially in Australia and New Zealand, with less emphasis on food and wine tourism. As wine and food are often viewed as complementary and closely related experiences in both normal dining and tourism settings, a number of common research themes have emerged. Many of the research ﬁndings from wine tourism research are also applicable to food tourism and vice versa. Because of the structure of current research, the following discussion commences by deﬁning both wine tourism and food tourism as individual areas of research followed by a discussion of the key themes from the wine tourism and food tourism literature. The more recent trend of viewing the consumption of food and wine as a holistic experience, where food and wine are not treated as separate factors but as a complementary experience, will then be discussed. Many of the deﬁnitions used to describe both wine tourism and food tourism (Tourism Australia, 2005; Getz, 2000; Hjagler & Richards, 2002; Boniface, 2003) share common characteristics, including a focus on the tourist’s motivations and experiences, while others integrate aspects of niche marketing and destination development (Getz, 2000). For the purpose of this study, it was important to use a deﬁnition that ﬁrst distinguished food and wine tourists from other tourists and then assisted in understanding the role of food and wine tourism in the tourist experience (Hall & Sharples, 2003). According to Hall (1996), wine tourism can be deﬁned as ‘‘visitation to vineyards, wineries, wine festivals and wine shows for which grape wine tasting and/or experiencing the attributes of a grape wine region are the prime motivating factor for visitors.’’ For the purposes of this study, the deﬁnition is extended beyond grape wine to include fruit wine. Food tourism can similarly be deﬁned as ‘‘visitation to primary and secondary food producers, food festivals, restaurants and speciﬁc locations for which food tasting and/or experiencing the attributes of (a) specialist food production region are the primary motivating factor for travel’’ (Hall, 1996). Thus, for an activity or experience to be deﬁned as food and wine tourism, the tourist’s desire to experience a particular food and/or wine, or the produce of a speciﬁc region must be a major motivating factor for travel (Hall & Sharples, 2003; Hall & Mitchell, 2001).

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Wine Tourism A number of academics (Getz, 2000, Hall, Johnson, & Mitchell, 2000a; Hall, Sharples, Cambourne, & Macionis, 2000b; Mitchell & Hall, 2006) and industry organizations (WFA, 2006) have identiﬁed wine tourism as a speciﬁc area of research. To understand the motivations and activities of wine tourists, numerous wine tourism studies have focused on identifying and segmenting the market. Demographic details such as age, gender, income, and education have been used to identify wine tourists across the studies, in conjunction with geographic origin, lifestyle typologies, and tourist motivations and behavior. Although several typologies have been developed to segment wine tourists (Hall et al., 2000a; Charters & Ali-Knight, 2002), no deﬁnitive model has emerged due in part to the variability of the demographic proﬁles of wine tourists. Research has yet to identify a cluster of independent variables that together can be used to classify a wine tourist. Rather, a wine tourist is characterized as a person who enjoys wine. Instead of identifying a stereotypical wine visitor, the growing research in this ﬁeld has identiﬁed a lack of one (Mitchell & Hall, 2006), indicating the need for a more sophisticated analysis of wine tourist demographics, as well as highlighting the signiﬁcant differences in winery visitors between regions (Getz & Brown, 2006). Most wine tourism studies have focused on winery visitation, the characteristics and behavior of the winery visitor, and the cellar door experience. To identify the future potential for wine tourism, research needs to be directed toward identifying the reasons why tourists do not visit cellar doors. Recent studies have recognized the importance of obtaining data from wine consumers in general (Brown & Getz, 2005; Getz & Brown, 2006) and from broader samples (Sparks, 2007), and have begun to proﬁle potential wine tourists, their motivations, and the type of experience sought. Being able to expand the current wine tourism market by converting potential wine tourists into wine tourism visitors is an important step in creating a viable wine tourism industry. Fewer studies have investigated wine tourist motivations, although these often form the basis of segmentation. Johnson (2001, cited in Hall & Sharples, 2003) developed a typology differentiating specialist and generalist tourists. He suggested that generalist tourists visit a vineyard, winery, wine festival, or wine show for the purpose of recreation, whereas specialist tourists have a primary motivation formed by a speciﬁc interest in grape wine or grape-related phenomena. A study by Williams and Dossa (2003) found that the nonresident wine tourist market in British Columbia comprised of

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two subsegments: generalists and immersionists. In their study, wine tourists visiting the region had several travel motivations relating to experiencing aspects of the region. A major difference between the groups was a stronger desire by the immersionists to increase their knowledge of the region they were visiting. While investigating the motivations of wine tourists attending festivals, Yuan, Cai, Morrison, and Linton (2005) found that respondents were motivated by wine experiences at the event, as well as the event itself. Their study was particularly useful in identifying the viability of using motivation as a means of segmenting festival attendees (Yuan et al., 2005). Although food tents and cooking classes were held at the festival, Yuan et al. (2005) did not explore the link between food and wine. These studies show that although experiencing wine is the main motivation of wine tourists, other motivating factors, which may or may not be related to wine, need to be investigated. Findings from these studies have implications for destinations interested in attracting wine tourists, as they attempt to match the region’s product offerings with the experience sought by wine tourists.

Food Tourism Research into food tourism has grown in parallel with research on wine tourism, although the primary emphasis has been on food rather than on wine. Food tourism studies have focused on restaurants and dining, as well as on food tourism experiences more generally. As previously discussed, some food tourism studies encompass elements of wine tourism in the same manner as food and wine tourism studies provide an integrated research approach. As food and wine are complementary, many of the research ﬁndings from the wine tourism literature are applicable to food tourism research. Some research has been conducted into identifying, proﬁling, and understanding food tourists. As was the case in wine tourism, the food tourism market may be segmented using demographic, psychographic, lifestyle typologies, behaviors, or motivational factors (Hall & Sharples, 2003; Boniface, 2003) but stereotype of a food tourist has not emerged. Research into food tourism includes demographic characteristics, spatial aspects, and behavioral patterns. Research by Tourism Queensland (2003) identiﬁed food tourists as visitors who participate in eating out and/or visiting restaurants while on holidays. Although fewer studies on food tourists have been undertaken at a destination level, the ﬁndings are

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complemented by growing research on culinary tourism, or food and wine tourism, to be discussed later in the paper. Research into tourism dining experiences has focused on the food component rather than on the wine component. Motivational studies have classiﬁed tourists’ dining experiences into three categories: experiential, experimental, and existential (Au & Law, 2002). The groups are deﬁned on the basis of the diner’s willingness to try new and different types of food and restaurants when dining out. More recently, research by Sparks, Bowen, and Klag (2004) identiﬁed three market segments based on their views of culinary experiences: the young market, the afﬂuent market, and the mature market. Each group was identiﬁed by the perceived importance of restaurants when choosing a holiday destination. Collectively, the ﬁndings of these researchers signify that a willingness to try new food and the perceived importance of restaurants are strong indicators for identifying food tourists. Outside of the dining experience, research into the motivations of food tourists has identiﬁed similar typologies to wine tourists. Food tourists, like wine tourists, can be classiﬁed by the level of special interest in food. The level of motivation is often used as a segmentation tool, with some examples already discussed. According to Mitchell and Hall (2003), Johnson’s typology identifying specialist and generalist wine tourists may be directly applied to food tourists. While the motivations of food tourists’ have been closely matched to those of wine tourists, more research is required in this area. Understanding what motivates food tourists is important for food regions, especially those destinations promoting unfamiliar, local food. Research has also been undertaken into novelty-seeking behavior, or lack thereof. Of food tourists, Tse and Crotts (2005) found that culinary experimentation is inﬂuenced by four factors: national culture, length of stay, age, and repeat visitation. The implications for industry are being aware of the taste thresholds of international food tourists and their preferred culinary experiences (Tse & Crotts, 2005). Cohen and Avieli (2004) discussed the impact of nationality on a tourist’s propensity to seek out and try novel and strange cuisines. Although these studies did not focus on food tourists speciﬁcally, it is important to consider this concept in terms of the extent to which it characterizes the behavior of food tourists. Overall, this area of research is important in terms of a destination being aware of the willingness of food tourists to try new and different food, and can be invaluable in identifying areas where further education is required (Santich, 2004). The ﬁndings from research into novelty-seeking behaviors can be useful in developing food regions, where educating tourists about unusual, local food may encourage them to taste and therefore buy the produce.

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Food and Wine Tourism Recent studies have recognized the complementary partnership between wine and food, and adopted a research focus that recognizes food and wine as a single experience, in some studies identiﬁed as culinary tourism. For example, Tourism Australia (2005) identiﬁed culinary tourists using demographic, geographic, and behavioral characteristics. In Ontario, Canada, Mitchell and Hall (2003) developed a Cuisine and Wine Interest Index. Demographic information was collected, and respondents were classiﬁed according to their level of interest in wine and cuisine based on a scale of low, moderate, or high. The results showed higher levels of interest among the more afﬂuent and better-educated sectors of the market place, particularly couples without children (Mitchell & Hall, 2003). This index also provides another means of determining food tourists’ motivations. Research to date has treated culinary tourists as a relatively homogenous market. In a recent study of Canadian culinary tourists that investigated the relationship between food and wine, three segments were identiﬁed: visitors who participate only in food-related activities; those who participate only in wine; and those who participate in both (Ignatov & Smith, 2006). Their research developed proﬁles for each group and noted signiﬁcant differences in trip motivations and activities participated in on holidays. The results identiﬁed distinct types of culinary tourists seeking distinct types of culinary experiences. The ability to effectively target, attract, and satisfy these market segments, through marketing campaigns and desirable food and wine products and experiences, is an important consideration for destinations that have emerging food and wine tourism sectors. While there is a growing body of research on the role of food and wine in the tourism experience, a number of gaps in overall knowledge remain. The complexities of the interrelationship between food and wine are yet to be fully explored. Additional research is required to investigate issues of segmenting and identifying the motivations that set food and wine tourists apart from other groups of tourists. Although many regional studies are available, inconsistencies in analytical methods make it difﬁcult to compare data sets. Further, there is a need to distinguish food and wine tourists from other tourists and, more speciﬁcally, identify the differences that exist within the food and wine tourism market. For destinations such as Cairns, there is a paucity of research that can be used to guide the development of the region’s emerging food and wine tourism industry. Guidance of this nature requires planning models as well as suggested policy guidelines on marketing and other aspects of product

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development. While the model developed by Hall and Sharples assists to remediate this gap, it is yet to be veriﬁed through testing. It is also clear that destinations need methodologies that will enable them to identify the potential to match their region’s food and wine production with tourists who actively seek food and wine experiences.

METHODOLOGY This study was designed to test the Hall and Sharples model by applying it at the destination level using Cairns as a case study. Data were collected to establish the position of the destination’s food and wine sector on the model. The key research questions were: 1. Is it possible to identify speciﬁc food and wine sectors in a destination using the Hall and Sharples model? 2. Is it possible to segment tourists using consumption of food and wine as a motivation for visiting a destination? After considering methodologies employed in previous studies, an airport exit survey was selected as the most appropriate method for collecting data. The survey design incorporated a range of socio-demographic variables as well as questions on motivations and the types of food and wine experienced while respondents were in Cairns. The survey was administered at the domestic terminal of Cairns Airport, but included international as well as domestic visitors. Several sampling methods were considered; however, a lack of time and resources prevented randomized sampling being adopted. Hence a convenience sampling approach was chosen. The decision to use self-administered questionnaires was based on the beneﬁts and suitability of this technique to survey visitors onsite (Veal, 1997), while achieving the aims of the research. A two-page questionnaire was developed to gauge the level of interest visitors had in experiencing local food and wine. Participants were asked to indicate which local food and wine products they had tried and where they had experienced them. Using the classiﬁcations developed by Hall and Sharples, participants were asked to identify with a statement that best described the role of food and wine in their visit to the region. The survey further investigated the importance of food and wine as a travel motivation in general and for this trip to Cairns using a 5-point Likert scale. Questions using Likert scales were also used to indicate awareness of the region’s food and wine opportunities, recommendations to others, and whether

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respondents would return to experience local food and wine. To build proﬁles of tourists to the Cairns region, a number of demographic, trip characteristics, and motivational questions were asked. These included age, gender, travel party, occupation, and length of stay, and were based on characteristics used in previous segmentation studies that investigated food and wine tourism. A pilot study was undertaken at the domestic terminal of Cairns Airport, and several minor adjustments were made to the survey instrument. Researchers approached potential tourists, introduced themselves, and asked a qualifying question to see if they were tourists visiting Cairns. If the participants replied ‘‘Yes,’’ they were informed about the purpose of the study and asked if they wished to participate. Researchers remained close by to collect the completed questionnaires and clarify any questions raised by respondents. The data were analyzed with SPSS Version 14.0 for Windows, using chisquare tests and Spearman’s correlation. Nonparametric tests were employed as the data were not normally distributed, and consisted of categorical and ordinal variables. Due to small cell values (o5), a number of variables were recoded or only the most frequent categories chosen to avoid violating the test. These variables included age group, occupation, travel party, accommodation, transport, identifying statement, and the inﬂuence of food and wine. The reliability of the scales was tested with a Cronbach’s alpha of .736, and probability tests were conducted at p ¼ .05. Of the 404 questionnaires distributed at the airport, 374 valid responses were received, representing a response rate of 92.6%. While every attempt was made to obtain a broad cross section of visitors, the survey had a number of limitations that reduced the ability of results to be generalized. Limitations included a 3-month collection period and a convenience collection approach. For these reasons, the results may not indicate seasonal trends and may not be suitable to develop visitor segment proﬁles on an annualized basis. Other limitations included distribution of the questionnaire to English-speaking tourists only, and visitors departing through the international terminal and by road and rail were not sampled because of the difﬁculty in gaining access to these locations.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS Table 1 provides an overview of the proﬁle of respondents. The sample consisted of slightly more females (57%) than males (43%), with an almost equal representation of domestic (51.6%) and international (48.4%)

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Table 1.

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Number of Respondents Who Tried Local Food and Their Level of Satisfaction.

Food Tried Tropical fruits Local seafood Milk/cheese products Local coffee Local farmed vegetables Local tea Kangaroo meat Tropical fruit wine Crocodile meat Emu meat

N

(%)

Satisfaction (Mean)

239 239 191 138 135 93 72 58 42 23

68.4 66.4 56.0 40.9 39.5 27.9 21.3 17.4 13.0 6.8

4.48 4.47 4.13 4.22 4.44 4.16 3.88 4.14 4.02 3.91

tourists. More than half of the respondents are less than 40 years old (55.9%), with a third (32.1%) aged 20–29 years, followed by the 50–59-year age group (15.8%). These age groups were also more likely to be traveling as couples, representing 42.2% of the sample, followed by visitors traveling alone (17.2%) or as a family with children (12.6%). Students (23.3%) made up a large part of the sample, with professionals (19.3%) and semi-retired visitors (15.8%) among the most common occupations reported. More than 60% of respondents were visiting Cairns for the ﬁrst time, with a mean length of stay of 6.44 nights. Over half (51.3%) of the respondents traveled to Cairns by air, while 19.1% rented a car, 17.2% arrived by bus/ coach, and a further 7.0% by private vehicle. Once in Cairns, a third (32.2%) stayed in a hotel/motel, 19.2% in holiday apartments, and 18.1% in backpackers’ hostels. Only 10.8% stayed with friends and relatives. Information on the destination was sought from friends and relatives (41.7%), guidebooks (25.7%), the Internet (22.2%), and having been before (21.1%), with fewer seeking information from travel agents (16.3%). Advertising rated very low as an information source used by respondents. Respondents were asked to indicate if they had tried local food and wine while staying in the Cairns region and to rate their level of satisfaction on a scale from very dissatisﬁed (1) to very satisﬁed (5) (see Table 1). Although the number of visitors who tried different types of food and wine varied, the majority who did were satisﬁed to very satisﬁed with their choice. More than half of the respondents purchased tropical fruits (68.4%), local seafood (66.4%), and dairy products (56.0%), and were satisﬁed to very satisﬁed, resulting in a mean rank of 4.48, 4.47, and 4.13, respectively. Although the

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more unusual crocodile (13.0%) and emu meats (6.8%) were tried by fewer respondents, they did rank quite positively for satisfaction, with a mean rank of 4.02 and 3.91, respectively. Kangaroo meat received the lowest satisfaction rating, with a mean rank of 3.88. The majority of respondents tried local food and wine in restaurants and cafes (77.8%), and just under a third (28.3%) had visited local markets. Another 8.8% of respondents had participated in farm tours; 6.4% had visited local fruit wineries; and 4.0% had experienced local foods and wines at a relative’s home, 1% through their accommodation, and 2.4% at a local tourist attraction.

Position of the Food and Wine Tourism Industry The ﬁrst aim of this study was to test the ability of the model to identify the position of a destination’s food and wine tourism sector using the four categories outlined in the Hall and Sharples model. Using food and wine as a motivating factor for visiting Cairns, respondents were asked to identify with one of four key statements (see Table 2). Less than 1% identiﬁed with the statement ‘‘I visited Cairns mainly to experience the region’s food and wine attractions,’’ while the majority of respondents (67.0%) stated that they had not visited Cairns speciﬁcally to experience the region’s food and wine. Just under a third of the group (31.3%) tried local food and wine as something to do or indicated it as being one, but not the main, reason for their visit. When asked if local food and wine had inﬂuenced their decision to visit Cairns, the majority of respondents reported that they were not inﬂuenced by local food (74.3%) and wine (80.4%) (see Table 3). The majority of respondents indicated it was unimportant or very unimportant, which Table 2. The Role of Food and Wine in Respondents’ Visit (N ¼ 370). Statement I visited Cairns mainly to experience the region’s food and wine attractions Trying the region’s food and wine was one of the reasons for my visit I visited Cairns for other reasons and tried the region’s food and wine as something to do I did not visit Cairns speciﬁcally to experience the region’s food and wine

Frequency

%

3

0.8

18

4.9

101

27.3

248

67.0

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MICHELLE THOMPSON AND BRUCE PRIDEAUX

Table 3.

Comparing the Importance of Food and Wine in Cairns While Traveling.

Level of Inﬂuence

Local Food in Cairns (N ¼ 373)

Local Wine in Cairns (N ¼ 373)

Food and Wine Travel (N ¼ 372)

Frequency

%

Frequency

%

Frequency

%

193 84 70 24 2

51.7 22.5 18.8 6.4 0.5

226 74 63 9 1

60.6 19.8 16.9 2.4 0.3

70 58 79 132 33

18.8 15.6 21.2 35.5 8.9

Very unimportant Unimportant Neither Important Very important

Group 1 – Food and Wine Tourists (N = 165, 44.4%) Self-identify experiencing a region’s food and wine when traveling as important to very important. Group 2 – Undecided (N = 79, 21.2%) Self-identify experiencing a region’s food and wine when traveling as neither important nor unimportant. Group 3 – Not Interested (N = 128, 34.4%) Self-identify experiencing a region’s food and wine when traveling as unimportant to not at all important.

Fig. 2.

Food and Wine Segments.

supports previous ﬁndings in this study that showed respondents visiting Cairns for reasons other than local food and wine. A further question asked respondents how important it is to experience a region’s local food and wine when traveling. Three segments were identiﬁed: food and wine tourists, undecided, and the not interested group, as illustrated in Fig. 2. Almost half (44.4%) of the respondents indicated that experiencing food and wine when traveling was important or very important, and were classiﬁed as food and wine tourists. Respondents who indicated that trying local food and wine was neither important nor unimportant when traveling were classiﬁed as undecided, and in this study were found to comprise 21.2% of the total sample. A third group of respondents (34.4%) that indicated that food and wine was unimportant or very unimportant when traveling was classiﬁed as not interested. Although

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177

the latter two groups self-identiﬁed a disinterest in local food and wine, most displayed the opposite behavior and tried local cuisine while holidaying in the region. These segments were then used as the basis of subsequent analysis to identify food and wine tourism in the Cairns region. Based on these results it is apparent that the current position of Cairns on the Hall and Sharples model is the travel and tourism phase, with evidence that the destination is moving into the rural tourism development stage.

Develop a Proﬁle of Food and Wine Tourists to the Cairns Region The second aim of the study was to test the proposition that segments based on the motivation of the consumption of food and wine can be identiﬁed and used to identify food and wine tourists. A series of chi-square tests were conducted to identify how the food and wine tourist group differed from the other two groups (i.e., those undecided and not interested). A range of independent variables were tested, including demographics (age, gender, and place of residence), trip characteristics, accommodation, mode of transportation, and travel party. A speciﬁc proﬁle of food and wine tourists in the Cairns region could not be developed, as results proved inconclusive. This ﬁnding parallels previous research that has failed to establish a speciﬁc demographic proﬁle for food and wine tourists. The results did suggest, however, that these motivation variables are a useful method of identifying food and wine tourists. In this research, chi-square testing found that the differences between food and wine tourists and other tourists were based on motivational factors. In addition to identifying food and wine tourists by their self-identiﬁed interest in food and wine, this group may be distinguished from other tourists on the basis of the reasons given for wanting to return to the destination, the inﬂuence of local food, awareness of local seafood, and recommendations made on local food and wine. In this study, food and wine tourists were more likely to have a reason to visit for local food and wine (49.1%), be inﬂuenced by local food (14.6%), be aware of local seafood (92.7%), recommend local food (85.4%) and wine (46.0%), and return to the Cairns region for local food and wine (54.5%) than the other two groups (see Table 4). The not interested and undecided groups were less likely to visit the region for reasons related to food and wine, less likely to be inﬂuenced by local food in their decision making, less likely to be aware of the local seafood, and less likely to recommend or return to the region for the local cuisine compared to self-identiﬁed food and wine tourists.

178

Table 4.

MICHELLE THOMPSON AND BRUCE PRIDEAUX

Signiﬁcant Differences Identiﬁed with Motivational Variable. N

Value w2

d.f.

Signiﬁcance

Motivations Reason for visit Inﬂuence of local fooda Aware of local seafooda Recommend local foodb Recommend local winea Return for food and winea

369 371 370 367 355 372

34.657 56.799 13.114 66.570 60.384 48.190

2 4 2 6 6 4

.000 .000 .001 .000 .000 .000

Food tried Local seafooda Local coffeea Tropical fruitsa Local farmed vegetablesa Milk/cheese productsa Local teac Tropical fruit wineb

361 342 356 343 342 337 339

30.064 22.854 19.644 18.028 10.387 8.766 6.839

2 2 2 2 2 2 2

.000 .000 .000 .000 .006 .012 .041

Across Three Groups

a

Food and wine tourists signiﬁcantly different from undecided and not interested groups. Food and wine tourists signiﬁcantly different from not interested group. c Food and wine tourists signiﬁcantly different from undecided group. b

Motivations and Behavior Results of the study found that respondents from all three groups tried local food and wine products. Food and wine tourists, however, were more likely to sample local food and wine than the other two groups. Chi-square analysis across the three groups found highly signiﬁcant differences for local seafood, tropical fruits, local farm vegetables, local coffee, and milk/cheese products, and signiﬁcant differences for local tea and tropical fruit wine (see Table 5). When highly signiﬁcant differences were identiﬁed, food and wine tourists differed signiﬁcantly from the other two groups. In this study, food and wine tourists were more likely to try local seafood (80.4%), tropical fruits (80.0%), local farm vegetables (51.6%), local coffee (54.9%), and milk/cheese products (65.2%) than the undecided and not interested groups. When signiﬁcant differences were found, food and wine tourists differed from only one of the other two groups. Here, food and wine tourists were more likely to try local tea (35.5%) and tropical fruit wine (23.2%) than the undecided and not interested groups. As fewer respondents across the three groups tried crocodile, emu, and kangaroo meat, no signiﬁcant differences were found.

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Table 5.

Local Food Tried by the Three Segments.

Food Tried

Local seafood* Tropical fruits* Milk/dairy products (dairy)* Local coffee* Local farmed vegetables* Local tea* Tropical fruit wine* Kangaroo meat Crocodile meat Emu meat

N

361 356 342 342 343 337 339 337 338 337

Food and Wine Tourists Frequency

%

131 128 101 84 79 54 35 35 23 10

80.4 80.0 65.2 54.9 51.6 35.5 23.2 23.3 15.2 6.7

Undecided

Not Interested

Frequency % Frequency % 48 48 33 24 19 13 10 13 9 7

62.3 63.2 45.2 32.9 26.0 18.1 13.7 17.8 12.2 9.5

60 67 57 32 37 27 14 23 11 5

49.6 55.8 50.0 27.6 31.6 23.9 12.2 20.2 9.7 4.4

*Signiﬁcant difference.

Hall and Sharples’ model was designed to identify tourists who have a special interest in food and wine as a niche tourism product; however, the model’s ability to be used as an indicator of the potential to develop of the food and wine tourism industry has not been tested. This study tested the ability of Hall and Sharples model to be used to identify the position of a destination’s food and wine tourism industry along a food and wine continuum. In the destination case study used in this research, results show that the current position of Cairns is in the travel and tourism stage, with evidence that the destination is moving into the rural tourism development stage. Approximately 90% of respondents stated that local food and wine did not inﬂuence their decision to visit Cairns. However, it is apparent that some tourists were seeking out regional food and wine experiences at restaurants, local markets, wineries in the region, as well as food trails. Cairns is not currently recognized as a food and wine destination, nor has it marketed itself as a destination that offers local food and wine experiences. Results of this study indicate that there is considerable potential to develop the food and wine tourism sector although probably not to the cuisine stage. The study found that self-identiﬁed food and wine tourists are currently visiting the region, but for reasons other than food and wine. Using the desire to experience food and wine as a method of classiﬁcation, the research identiﬁed two other visitor segments: the not interested group who felt food and wine was not important, and those who were undecided about the importance food and wine when traveling.

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This study also tested the idea that it is possible to develop a food and wine segment based on either independent variables (demographics and trip characteristics) or motives. Results indicated that while it was not possible to identify a segment based on independent variables it was possible to identify a segment based on motives and consumption patterns. This ﬁnding conﬁrms earlier research using motivations to segment wine tourists (Yuan et al., 2005) and Mitchell and Hall’s (2006) suggestion that stereotypical wine tourists do not exist, with the characteristics of wine tourists varying from region to region. It is apparent that this is the situation in Cairns. This result is interesting because it suggests that it is possible to identify three food and wine segments based on consumption patterns and motives in any destination. If this ﬁnding can be generalized, this segmentation structure suggests that there is a speciﬁc typology of food and wine consumption based on a tourist segment that is motivated to look for food and wine experiences, a second segment that does not place particular importance on food and wine experiences as a travel motive, and a third segment that is not interested in seeking speciﬁc food and wine experiences but that nevertheless does engage in food and wine consumption. These ﬁndings have a number of implications for destinations seeking to build a food and wine tourism sector. It is apparent that food and wine tourists may be difﬁcult to target for marketing purposes because of the difﬁculty in identifying the sector by socio-demographic characteristics. However, given the size of the interest in food and wine, there is a strong case for inclusion of food and wine within the destination’s overall branding. As a ﬁrst step, the proﬁle of the destination, in this case Cairns, that offers food and wine experiences will need to be enhanced. One strategy may be to simply incorporate food and wine images in destination marketing supported by speciﬁcally targeted familiarization tours for the travel media and the travel trade. The results also suggest that given their willingness to try local food, tourists who are undecided or perhaps not interested in food and wine as a motivation for visiting a speciﬁc destination should be considered in any food and wine marketing strategies. Although they have a lower level of participation than the self-identiﬁed food and wine segment, this group is large and should not be ignored by the local food and wine market or destination marketers. When food and wine are incorporated into destination marketing and branding, marketers also need to be aware of the willingness of tourists to try new and unusual food. The results support previous studies (Tse & Crotts, 2005) in this area. For instance, while emu and crocodile

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meats may not be as popular as tropical fruit and local seafood they have a novelty value that enhances the destination as a new and unique food and wine destination. The ﬁndings from this study suggest that modiﬁcation should be made to Hall and Sharples’ model. The model depicts a falling line, representing a decreasing number of tourists with an increasing motivation for food and wine. For a destination that has reached the gastronomic and gourmet stages, the line indicates the market comprises of a small segment of food and wine tourists with a high level of interest and motivation for food and wine experiences when traveling. The results from this study indicate the existence of a larger potential market that is ignored by the model. This research also found that tourists who were undecided or not interested in food and wine still tried the local cuisine. As they display behaviors similar to that of food and wine tourists, these two groups should be considered as likely consumers of the region’s food and wine industry, although not to the same extent as self-identiﬁed food and wine tourists.

CONCLUSION This study has demonstrated the usefulness of Hall and Sharples’ model as a tool to assist in the identiﬁcation of the current position of the food and wine tourism industry using Cairns as a case study. The model was also found to be a useful method for determining if there was potential for future development of a food and wine sector. Although proﬁles of food and wine tourists could not be developed based on demographics and trip characteristics, the dependent variable of motivation for food and wine was found to be more appropriate in differentiating food and wine tourists from other tourists (Hall & Sharples, 2003). Given the high level of interest in food and wine, there are strong grounds for suggesting that promoting local food and wine, if available, will attract an increased number of tourists to a destination. Testing of Hall and Sharples model in this study has shown that it has potential to be applied to other destinations. In addition to indicating a smaller segment of food and wine tourists, the model should be modiﬁed to recognize a larger potential market of tourists who exhibit some of the behaviors of food and wine tourists, but not the motives of speciﬁcally seeking food and wine experiences. For established and emerging destinations, this model is a useful development tool that is indicative of the market potential and growth for food and wine tourism industries.

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REFERENCES Au, N., & Law, R. (2002). Categorical classiﬁcation of tourism dining. Annals of Tourism Research, 29(3), 819–833. AWTC. (2005). Australian Wine and Tourism Conference. Available at http://www.wfa.org.au/ awftc/index.htm. Retrieved in June. Boniface, P. (2003). Tasting tourism: Travelling for food and drink. Burlington: Ashgate Publishing Co. Brown, G., & Getz, D. (2005). Linking wine preferences to the choice of wine tourism destinations. Journal of Travel Research, 43(February), 266–276. Charters, S., & Ali-Knight, J. (2002). Who is the wine tourist? Tourism Management, 23, 311–319. Cohen, E., & Avieli, N. (2004). Food in tourism: Attraction and impediment. Annals of Tourism Research, 31(4), 755–778. Getz, D. (2000). Explore wine tourism: Management, development and destinations. New York: Cognizant Communication Corporation. Getz, D., & Brown, G. (2006). Critical success factors for wine tourism regions: A demand analysis. Tourism Management, 27, 146–158. Hall, C. M. (1996). Wine tourism in New Zealand. Proceedings of Tourism Down Under II: A Tourism Research Conference (pp. 109–119), University of Otago, Dunedin. Hall, C. M. (Ed.) (2003). Wine, food and tourism marketing. New York: Haworth Hospitality Press. Hall, C. M., Johnson, G., & Mitchell, R. (2000a). Wine tourism and regional development. In: C. M. Hall, L. Sharples, B. Cambourne & N. Macionis (Eds), Wine tourism around the world: Development, management and markets (pp. 196–225). Oxford, UK: ButterworthHeinemann. Hall, C. M., & Mitchell, R. (2001). Wine and food tourism. In: N. Douglas, N. Douglas & R. Derrett (Eds), Special interest tourism: Context and cases (pp. 307–329). Milton: Wiley, p. 308. Hall, C. M., & Sharples, L. (2003). The consumption of experiences or the experience of consumption? An introduction to the tourism of taste. In: C. M. Hall, L. Sharples, R. Mitchell, N. Macionis & B. Cambourne (Eds), Food tourism around the world: Development, management and markets (pp. 1–24). Oxford, UK: Butterworth-Heinemann. Hall, C. M., Sharples, L., Cambourne, B., & Macionis, N. (Eds). (2000b). Wine tourism around the world: Development, management and markets. Oxford, UK: ButterworthHeinemann. Hjagler, A., & Richards, G. (Eds). (2002). Tourism and gastronomy. London: Routledge. Ignatov, E., & Smith, S. (2006). Segmenting Canadian culinary tourists. Current Issues in Tourism, 9(3), 235–255. Mitchell, R., & Hall, C. M. (2003). Consuming tourists: Food tourism consumer behaviour. In: C. M. Hall, L. Sharples, R. Mitchell, N. Macionis & B. Cambourne (Eds), Food tourism around the world: Development, management and markets (pp. 60–80). Oxford, UK: Butterworth-Heinemann. Mitchell, R., & Hall, C. M. (2006). Wine tourism research: The state of play. Tourism Review International, 9, 307–332. Santich, B. (2004). The study of gastronomy and its relevance to hospitality education and training. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 23, 15–24.

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Sparks, B. (2007). Planning a wine tourism vacation? Factors that help to predict tourist behavioural intentions. Tourism Management, 28, 1180–1192. Sparks, B., Bowen, J., & Klag, S. (2004). Restaurants as a contributor to a tourist destination’s attractiveness: Phase Three (Part II) market segments. Gold Coast: Sustainable Tourism CRC. Tourism Australia. (2005). Snapshots: Culinary tourism in Australia, August 2005. Available at http://www.tourism.australia.com/content/Niche/niche_snapshot_culinary. pdf. Retrieved on May 2006. Tourism Queensland. (2003). Food tourism. Available at http://www.tq.com.au/tq_com/dms/ 2F042E0DD30312F350D80C58E400ABEF.pdf. Retrieved on May 2006. Tse, P., & Crotts, J. C. (2005). Antecedents of novelty seeking: International visitors propensity to experiment across Hong Kong’s culinary traditions. Tourism Management, 26, 965–968. Veal, A. J. (1997). Research methods for leisure and tourism: A practical guide (2nd ed.). London: Pitman. WFA. (2006). The wine tourism toolkit: A resource for Australian wineries. Winemakers’ Federation of Australia. Available at http://www.wfa.org.au/o_overview.htm; Tourism Australia. Retrieved on March 2007. Williams, P. W., & Dossa, K. B. (2003). Non-resident wine tourist markets: Implications for British Columbia’s emerging wine tourism industry. In: C. M. Hall (Ed.), Wine, food, and tourism marketing (pp. 1–34). New York: Haworth Hospitality Press. Yuan, J., Cai, L. A., Morrison, A. M., & Linton, S. (2005). An analysis of wine festival attendees’ motivations: A synergy of wine, travel and special events? Journal of Vacation Marketing, 11(1), 41–58.

TRIP PATTERNS OF GERMAN TOURISTS: A CASE OF MAJORCA, SPAIN Helmut Wachowiak ABSTRACT German tourists have accounted for the largest international arrivals on Majorca Island, Spain, for decades. This research intends to understand the trip patterns of German outbound tourists to Majorca. The study takes two different types of surveys at two different consumption stages. The ﬁrst is to use self-administrated questionnaires to collect the general travel data from those who are taking their trip on Majorca. The second is to deploy a face-to-face interview to measure the current use patterns of those who were returning back to Germany. Results of this research show that more than 84% of German tourists using a rental car regarded renting a car as important or very important for discovering the island and making excursions around the island. Moreover, tourists spend more money in places that are not directly located at the beaches and notably, support the economy of less frequently visited places on Majorca.

Advances in Hospitality and Leisure, Volume 5, 185–203 Copyright r 2009 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1745-3542/doi:10.1108/S1745-3542(2009)0000005014

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INTRODUCTION It seems that tourists have pursued their vacation more individually than ever before. In fact, individuals travel more independently through the destination compared to bookings of organised tours. Lew and McKercher (2005) articulate that the tourist’s ability to become familiar with a destination and choose what activities to pursue is highly individualistic, though subject to considerable external inﬂuences. Hall and Page (2000) state that the relationship between tourism and transport is self-evident, but has not been signiﬁcantly examined within a destination context. Indeed, mobility of tourists has increased with the introduction of rental car services. Also Lanzendorf (as cited in Beuthe, Himanen, Reggiani, & Zamparini, 2004) articulates that the mileage of travel by motorised vehicles is on the rise. Regarding the notion of leisure travel, Inkpen (1999) states that it is a term of explicating the type of travel by an individual either on holiday or at least travelling for pleasure. Studying tourists’ travel pattern involving the use of rental cars is still widely neglected (Conell & Page, 2006). The difference between tourists with a rental car and those without may show profound variations about their travel behaviours. Goeldner and Ritchie (2003) argue that the rental car industry has been growing parallel to the airline business. Indeed, the rental car industry beneﬁts from the expansion of air transport (Lawton & Weaver, 2002). Many tourists enjoy having a car once arriving at the destination. For instance, in the case of Majorca, Spain, people who do not book a package in advance have to reach many points of interest by different modes of transport; so either they make use of the local bus network, a cab, a shuttle enterprise, or they use a rental car. Bachri and Gartner (as cited in Uysal, 1996) mention that ‘the ability of tour operators to combine travel products and offer them to customers at prices generally lower than those available to individuals provides travel economy and convenience for a signiﬁcant segment of tourists’.

Purpose of Study Due to the deﬁciency of the literature on the behaviours of German outbound travellers to Spain, this paper intends to deal with the trip patterns of German tourists to Majorca. Majorca provides a typical example for island tourism where public transportation may not be well developed and the availability of different transportation modes may often

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affect tourists’ trip intention. Especially, this study attempts to highlight the behaviour variations in using transportation modes such as rental car and the Tren de So´ller – an old train connecting Palma and So´ller. Accordingly, the following research questions were developed: 1. Which cities and towns do German tourists frequently visit? 2. What types of activity do German tourists pursue? 3. What is the trip propensity of the tourists apt to discover many points of interest in the island? 4. Are there differences between rental car user and non-rental car users concerning their trip behaviours?

Tourists’ Flow to Majorca Majorca has emerged as one of the most visited destinations in Europe with a worldwide known reputation. One reason is its accessibility from Central Europe, and especially Germany. Tourists can reach Majorca from Germany in less than two ﬂight hours. Also, the island is considered to be a destination visited by those taking a holiday with short breaks. Nowadays, short breaks are an indicator of the changing pattern of holiday-taking in Europe (Davidson, 1999). In particular, so-called Low-Cost Carriers (LCCs), which offer cheap airfares, have inﬂuenced this movement. These days, the ﬂight costs to Majorca are sometimes even cheaper than the cab from the place of residence to the airport. For example, a ﬂight from Cologne to Palma de Majorca costs on average 114h during the period May 29 to June 5, 2007. This includes all taxes, the fuel addition as well as all security costs. Certainly, the airfare often increases during summer months and school holidays. Nevertheless, they are inexpensive in contrast to regular ﬂight fares that had to be paid before LCCs started their operations. The demand of LCC ﬂights is increasing, which encourages Germans to travel to Majorca more frequently. As tourists travel more individually to Majorca, the usage of rental cars increases as well. As transport is essential in linking people (Waugh, 2000), transport enables people to travel. Gunn (1994) comments that ‘transportation is not usually a goal; it is a necessary evil of tourist travel’. A connection between transport and tourism is close: activities that tourists do most often take for granted that roads, road networks, or other types of trafﬁc infrastructure exist (GroX, 2005). Lumsdon and Page (2004) state that many tourism trips involve a degree of inter-modality since tourists most often use more than one transport

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mode. For instance, a tourist who makes use of a package tour might take a cab to the airport in the generating region. Once arrived at the destination he/ she will take a coach to the resort from which excursions can be made. A boat excursion or a train might be additional transport modules utilised by the tourist. According to Prideaux (2004), several researchers have discovered that the efﬁciency of transport is a pre-condition for the development of the tourism industry. ‘From another perspective, the mass tourism phenomenon of the twentieth century and the sun and sand destinations that characterise mass tourism, was underpinned by a juxtaposition of new transport technology and Fordist patterns of production and consumption’. Further on, ‘is an understanding of the central position that transport occupies in the tourism industry important, if the future evolution of destinations is to be comprehensively understood’ (Prideaux, 2004). Unfortunately, transportation accounts not only for an increase in the economy but also for the pollution of the environment. Aguilo´ and Sastre (1987) identiﬁed several items of worsened conditions, one of which is the massive increase in car and lorry trafﬁc in combination with additional energy consumption. Tourists see transport as a part of the tourism system, although it inﬂuences the entire experience of their holiday. The transport possibilities on Majorca inﬂuence the impression of the vacation of tourists as well. If people complain about roadwork or trafﬁc jams in the rush hour around Palma, it affects the perception of their stay. In fact, destinations have to improve the trafﬁc infrastructure in order to increase the overall satisfaction of tourists who discover the island with the rental car. Of note is further on that transport networks make attractions physically accessible to potential visitors (Swarbrooke, 2002).

Impacts of Cars and Roads on Tourists’ Accessibility A ‘road offers a much greater degree of vehicle ﬂexibility over the route network’ (Cooper, Fletcher, Fyall, & Gilbert, 2005). With reference to the different types of transport at a destination, Robbins (as cited in Fyall, Garrod, & Leask, 2003) states that ‘the car offers greater ﬂexibility than public transport. It does not operate to ﬁxed routes and ﬁxed timetables, and it is widely accepted that the growth of car ownership and car use has brought huge advantages in individual mobility’. The term mobility describes not only the possibility to travel from point A to B but also the intellectual, social and emotional ﬂexibility to gain new experiences and

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horizons (Englisch, 2001, as cited in Bittner, 2006). Consequently, cars allow tourists to ‘organize and develop their own itineraries as well as activity patterns’ (Conell & Page, 2006) in contrast to those who do not use a rental car. Either these tourists depend on the programme the tour operator organises, the public transport system or they simply do not make any kind of excursions. Zillinger (2007) examined German car tourists in Sweden and found out that they travel according to an individual travel rhythm. This rhythm is deﬁned as a travel pattern which tourists relate to without taking the visited sites into consideration. Reviewing the literature, it is striking that researchers have got the same attitude towards the advantage of a car as a mode of transport within a holiday destination. Cooper et al. (2005) states the advantages of the car as the control of the route and the stops en route; the control of departure times; door-to-door ﬂexibility; the ability to carry baggage and equipment easily; the ability to use the vehicle for accommodation in the case of recreational vehicles and caravans; privacy and the freedom to use the automobile once the destination is reached; and the low perceived costs. Comparing the public transport with the rental car clariﬁes that the car is more convenient because tourists can act and plan the way they want to and do not depend upon timetables and certain routes. On the other hand, a disadvantage of car use is that certain attractions have a limited parking capacity and/or require an expensive parking fee (Robbins, as cited in Fyall et al., 2003). One example from Majorca is the parking fee at the parking area of Cap de Formentor, one of the most visited sceneries in the north of the island. Robbins, as cited in Fyall et al. (2003), argues that ‘the public transport market share is at its highest for those visitor attractions in large cities where overseas visitors form a high percentage of visitors, and at its lowest for destinations dominated by the domestic market’. The car density on Majorca is nowadays the same as in Hong Kong. According to the Balearic Vehicle Hire Business Association (AEVAB) 35,000 rental cars are stationed on Majorca during the summer months. Palmer-Tous, Riera-Font, and Rossello´-Nadal (2007) describe that a taxing fee for rental cars is a simple way to obtain valuable sources of money. But as the taxes for cars differ within the communities, many rental car companies declare their ﬂeets in minor communities. It is more expensive to declare a Seat Leo´n in Palma with 131h than in Montuı¨ ri, where the community charges 73h. At the end of the peak season, one-third of the rental cars are exported into European countries, as the companies do not have to pay a tax of 12% for the change of the car ownership from a rental car towards a private car. The continuous growth of rental car volumes

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causes enormous trafﬁc problems, especially in the mountainous North during peak seasons. As a result, narrow roads such as in Deia` become arterial roads during peak season. The car density on Majorca has impacts on the number of accidents as well. In 2004, 118 people died, out of which 15 were rental car users. From the 35,000 rental cars on the island, TUI Cars owns 3,500. Other main players in the rental car market on Majorca are Hasso Rent a Car with 2,000 vehicles, as well as Avis and Hertz with slightly smaller ﬂeets (Holzapfel & Krane, 2006). The stations of these rental car companies are dispersed all over the island with a focus on the airport, Palma and other important tourism centres. Bauer, CEO of TUI Cars, argues that Germans prefer German cars during their vacation on Majorca. Thus, they mainly offer Volkswagen, Skoda and Audi models on the island. About 80% of customers rent a car as cheap as possible in contrast to the remainders who book cars of higher classes such as convertibles or off-road vehicles (Schwamberger, 2005). Looking at the booking behaviour of rental car users, Hasso Rent a Car shows that more than 50% of tourists already book via the Internet. Many companies attract tourists with saving packages when booking over the Internet. In contrast, tourists’ own car can be used for travelling, which requires a ferry in order to reach the island. Solely the costs for the ferry sum up to 515.16h for two adults and a car between 4.0 m and 4.5 m in length (www.Aferry.de, 2007). This amount does not include the costs for the trip from Germany to Barcelona, where the ferry departs. Likely, the rental car agencies will proﬁt over the long run from the changing travel pattern behaviour of German tourists. This development towards the ‘Agroturismo’ assists not only the rental car market but also the accommodations in the hinterland due to an increasing number of bookings.

The Road Infrastructure in Majorca As shown in the map (Fig. 1), it can be seen that arterial roads on Majorca are radiating from Palma into all directions with a motorway ring around Palma de Majorca. The Vı´ a Cintura has already reached its capacity in terms of daily use. More than 150,000 cars use the section between Valldemossa and Son Rapinya, while 113,000 cars utilise the eastern motorway, 84,000 in the western part at Porto Pi and more than 137,000 in the north at the exit towards So´ller. Fact is that between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m., next to parents who bring their children to school, truck drivers and commuters close the Vı´ a Cintura. At

Fig. 1.

Map of Majorca. Source: http://www.mallorca.de. Retrieved on 18.06.2007.

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noontime the trafﬁc increases again until the roads are blocked again at 6 p.m. when the rush hour starts. Only at 9 p.m., the trafﬁc diminishes. One of the main problems is the missing public transport system, especially towards Palma. The metro of Palma does not solve the problem of the Vı´ a Cintura and the only solution to abate trafﬁc jams would be to construct a second motorway ring around the capital of Majorca. Moreover, the idea of constructing a tunnel under the port promenade exists, according to Grundmann and Ihnenfeldt (2006), in order to reduce the trafﬁc within Palma itself. In sum, Majorca has a congestion problem which is increasing as more and more tourists visit the island individually. If a new highway around Palma could be constructed, the smaller roads might be utilised less which may help reduce the congestion issue. Of note is that Germans visitors on Majorca in 2006, nearly 38% of all tourists, are the most important target group of incoming tourism, and hence the economical impact of those who make use of a rental car is enormous. Therewith, it is of high importance to analyse the day-trip behaviour of Germans and routes they use. This relevance is justiﬁed as these tourists spend money in less-populated and landlocked regions and thus support the economy of the area that has the least advantage of the mass tourism destination, Majorca.

METHOD AND FINDINGS Research Designs This study took two different types of surveys at two different consumption stages. The ﬁrst was to use self-administrated questionnaires to collect the general travel data from those who were taking their trip on Majorca. The second was to deploy a face-to-face interview to measure the actual use patterns on those who were returning back to Germany. The in-ﬂight survey started in February 2005 and ended in October 2005, while the face-to-face interviews took place in May 2005. By using a structured questionnaire, information on the day-trip behaviour of German tourists to Majorca was collected. These tourists were interviewed within the island in May 2005. Moreover, passengers onboard ﬂights from Palma de Majorca to Cologne were interviewed during the period of February–October 2005, showing how many kilometres the tourists had been driving around on the island.

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As two different questionnaires have been used, not all questions within those can be compared. The face-to-face survey conducted in Majorca is more detailed than the questionnaire used on the ﬂights to Germany, but both contain open-ended as well as closed questions. Both questionnaires were divided into introduction questions, booking behaviour, place and accommodation, rental car usage, common travel attitude, expenditures, evaluation of this trip and demographical questions. The data collection from the face-to-face interviews took place at several locations on Majorca. These places were singled out beforehand in order to receive a controlled sampling, which included the tourism regions: Palma, Costa de Ponent, Costa de Tramuntana, Badia de Pollenca, Badia d’Alcu´dia, Costa de Llevant and Platja de Palma, since these areas are related to the Conselleria de Turisme (2006). Additionally, questionnaires were distributed during 8 months onboard 22 randomly selected ﬂights between Palma de Majorca and Cologne. The total sample of the face-to-face interview is 1,106, while the in-ﬂight survey collected 881 questionnaires. Due to the large sample size, the samples may mirror the travel behaviours of Germans to Majorca. For the assessment, crosstabs were used to reﬂect the habits of tourists who rent a car and those who do not rent one. In order to visualise the differences between rental car users and non-users, an error bar was utilised. Further, an independent-sample t-test was used to see if a signiﬁcant disparity in the mean of visited places for rental car users and non-rental car users exists. The conditions for such a test are one categorical independent variable (e.g. rental car user/non-rental car user) and one continuous dependent variable (e.g. number of visited places) (Pallant, 2001).

Most Visited Places and Activities Taken In order to show the results of all places that have been visited by German tourists on Majorca, an extract of the 15 most visited places is presented in Table 1. The capital of Majorca is visited most frequently and equally dispersed from all regions as well. Nearly 100% of tourists that come to Palma de Majorca are interested in visiting cultural sites during their day trip. This is not astonishing, since the city offers a huge variety of historical buildings and sites, in addition to the possibility of shopping and strolling around. The second and third most visited locations are situated in the western part of the island in the Serra de Tramuntana. This is a pull factor for all

Total

390 210 141 130 117 115 84 78 77 72 68 67 64 56 55

Place Visited

Palma So´ller Valldemossa Cap de Formentor Alcu´dia Andratx Pollenca Portocristo Cala Ratjada Inca Port de So´ller Port d’Andratx Manacor S’Arenal Deia

22.6 12.2 8.2 7.5 6.8 6.7 4.9 4.5 4.5 4.2 3.9 3.9 3.7 3.2 3.2

13 3 1 12 17 9 2 3 19 0 6 1 0 15 13

Beach 142 13 8 3 17 6 5 7 14 22 5 6 5 10 6

Shopping 374 157 112 88 72 80 52 67 39 45 43 39 22 22 24

Culture 155 68 47 45 54 45 3 17 7 24 26 32 8 16 17

Strolling Around 2 6 4 4 6 2 6 1 2 1 1 0 0 2 3

Sport 142 54 40 5 30 9 29 13 15 12 16 16 4 15 13

Gastronomy

Most Visited Places and Activities Taken (N ¼ 1,106).

Percent (%)

Table 1.

12 20 2 5 4 4 6 4 6 4 10 4 3 5 6

Miscellaneous

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Trip Patterns of German Tourists

195

Majorca visitors as it offers a different face of the island; rugged mountains fall steeply into the water and narrow roads wind up through the mountainous regions. So´ller is easily reached from Palma de Majorca via a tunnel, which was constructed in order to decrease the travel time between the cities. Another possibility is the old train between Palma and So´ller. In contrast to So´ller, Valldemossa is situated within the mountain region and this village reﬂects the old charm of Majorca. The activities undertaken at these places are mainly of cultural nature and represent the typical behaviour of German tourists while making day trips within villages. It is eye-catching that Cap de Formentor, a natural attraction, is ranked within the most frequently visited places, although it is situated in the northern part of Majorca. The reason for this is the pull factor of the Cape and its unique isolated location, from which beautiful sunsets can be enjoyed. According to Swarbrooke (2002), attractions can be grouped into different ﬁelds. They can be divided into four groups: natural; man-made, but not originally designed primarily to attract visitors; man-made and purpose-built to attract tourists; and special events. Majorca offers all of these. Natural attractions on the island are beaches, caves (e.g. Coves del Drac), the Serra de Tramuntana as well as several small bays around the coast. Furthermore, the ﬂora and fauna of this destination can be counted as natural attractions. The cathedral of Palma, on the other hand, is among the man-made but not originally designed as visitor attractions. In addition, historical buildings and archaeological sites rank among those attractions. In contrast, the group of man-made and purpose-built attractions on Majorca includes a water park, a casino, museums, health spas and more. Regarding the group of special events, the island offers markets, sport events, art festivals, historical anniversaries and religious events. All in all, Majorca has the potential to attract nearly each tourist in order to be pulled by an attraction. While interpreting the activities that have been undertaken during day trips, it strikes one’s eye that culture is ranked ﬁrst place with 45.3%. Mun˜oz-Garı´ n (2007) found out that cultural tourism of Germans has grown during recent years. This main interest is followed by strolling around (20.7%) and gastronomy (15.1%). Nearly a tenth of all tourists enjoy shopping during day trips, while going to the beach is enjoyed by a smaller percentage (4.2%). This is a very distinctive ﬁnding since it means tourists would rather visit villages and places that are landlocked or if not, prefer any other activity over day trips to the beaches. Performing sports is practiced even less often (1.5%).

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Regarding the tourist’s interests in taking short trips to different points of interest around the island, the study ﬁnds that 21.8% of the respondents regard trips to different points of interest as very important and 44.2% as important. However, 23.2% of the respondents regard it as either unimportant or very unimportant. The results show that there is signiﬁcant intention for exploring different touring regions around the island. To further analyse the trip patterns of tourists who are very interested in making day trips, Table 2 makes a comparison between all tourists and their attitude towards day trips, and those who ﬁnd it very interesting. Only a few differences between these two groups occur concerning their attitudes. It sums up that tourists who are very interested in discovering the island have Table 2. Evaluation of Tourists for Whom it Is Very Important to Discover the Island Compared to All Tourists (N ¼ 1,106). Very Important 4.7 times

All Scales

How often have you been on Majorca before? Use of rental car Yes No For how long did you rent a car?

5.8 times

63% 37% 6.6 days

42% 58% 5.6 days

Evaluation of road network Very good Good Neither nor Poor Very poor Cannot evaluate it

18% 58% 9% 5% 2% 7%

13% 56% 10% 6% 2% 15%

Use of train between Palma and So´ller Yes No

42% 58%

40% 60%

Use of boat trip Yes No

43% 57%

45% 55%

Visit of a market Yes No

62% 38%

62% 38%

Consumption of regional products Yes No

79% 21%

71% 29%

Trip Patterns of German Tourists

197

visited Majorca less often than all interviewed. The tourists rent a car approximately for 1 day longer and evaluate the road network more positive than all interviewed tourists. Regarding the possibility to use the train between Palma and So´ller, take a boat trip and visit local markets, it shows that the behaviour of both groups is no different. Not astonishing is that people who are very interested in discovering the island consume more regional products as these can more easily be found while making day trips.

The Use of Rental Cars Conell and Page (2006) argue that road transport accounts for 42% of trips. Wheatcroft (1990) counts almost 70% that dominates the travel market. Neither of them breaks down how these numbers have been evaluated, and it has to be mentioned that the whole European continent has been taken into consideration. As Majorca cannot be reached by car without a ferry, these numbers are not that relevant as if a destination within Germany is being described. In 2005, 46.7% of all Germans made use of their car or mobile home in order to reach their holiday destination (Forschungsgemeinschaft Urlaub, 2006). The aim of this research is to analyse the trip patterns of German tourists at an island mass tourism destination. Out of all surveyed Germans on Majorca, 42% used a rental car. The mean kilometres German tourists drove the rental car is 524 km within a mean duration of 7.24 days (N ¼ 881 interviewed on the return ﬂight, 411 valid cases conducted questionnaire on return ﬂight towards Germany). Thus, they travel approximately 75 km per day. The following calculation will show, though, that 75 km per day does not allow tourists to discover all regions of Majorca. A day trip from Cala Ratjada to Palma, for example, counts 164 km round trip. When making another day trip through the Serra de Tramuntana, one of the most visited regions on Majorca, the tourist will drive 235 km if he/she is going to visit Valldemossa and So´ller. Subtracting the kilometres of the day trips 125 km are left over. Although Majorca has only 3,640 km2, distances are long due to the fact that especially the mountainous Serra de Tramuntana is difﬁcult to reach. Tourists who want to discover Majorca on their own use either a rental car or the local transport system. The use of a rental car is more effective than the local transport system in terms of convenience. Although the island has a good bus system, cars can provide more ﬂexibility for taking day trips. Furthermore, using a rental car is safer in the mind of tourists. Due to the fact that the car is most often parked in front of the accommodation, the tourist

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does not need to spend time by going to the next public transport departure station. Arriving at the station he/she has to wait a few minutes, as the tourist does not want to miss the bus and consequently plans to be there a few minutes before the bus departs. This study also ﬁnds that 42.1% of the 1,106 interviewed tourists made use of a rental car with a mean duration of 5.6 days. It is not astonishing that those tourists who make use of a rental car put more emphasis on discovering the surroundings opposed to tourists without a car. While 84.5% of car renters ﬁnd it important or very important to explore the island, a surprisingly high number of 51.1% of non-car renters think the same way. Hence, the assumption can be made that tourists without a car use other transport modes in order to discover Majorca. But of course there is a huge disparity when it comes to the number of places visited. Table 3 proves that people who do not rent a car explore fewer places, as only 28% visit more than two places. People who use a rental car, on the other hand, visit more than two places with a majority of 74%. Looking at the average number of places visited, rental car users stick out with 5.02 explored locations. In contrast, non-car users make excursions to 1.98 places on average. The standard deviation of both groups ranges between 3.6 and 2.5. Based on the computed signiﬁcance values of t-test for equality of means, there is a signiﬁcant difference between rental car users and non-rental car users concerning the number of places visited (see Table 4). While the signiﬁcant value of the equal variance assumed is smaller than 0.05, equal variances not assumed are the line that refers to the t-test in this case (Pallant, 2001). Table 3.

Comparison between Tourists Who Make Use of a Rental Car and Those Who Do Not (N ¼ 789).

Number of Places Visited

0 1 2 3 4 o5 o10 o15 o20 o25

Use of a Rental Car Yes

No

26 33 51 54 55 68 115 35 4 3

161 146 72 41 40 27 28 10 2 0

F

41.191

Equal variances assumed Equal variances not assumed

Levene’s Test for Equality of Variances

0.000

Signiﬁcance

t-Test for Equality of Means

970 772.08

15.105

df

15.556

t

0.000

0.000

Signiﬁcance (two-tailed)

3.033

3.033

Mean difference

0.201

0.195

Standard error difference

2.639

2.65

Upper

3.427

3.415

Lower

95% conﬁdence interval of difference

The Differences in Rental Car Users and Non-Rental Car Users Concerning the Number of Places Visited (N ¼ 789).

Number of places visited on Majorca

Table 4.

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Transport Modes as Tourist Attractions Robbins (as cited in Fyall et al., 2003) states that public transport itself can be regarded as an attraction and thus lures people to take excursions in order to discover the destination. Pikkemaat, Peters, and Weiermaier (2006) count staged means of conveyance to primary destination elements. On Majorca, the train connection between Palma and So´ller, which is called Tren de So´ller, is the best example for this. The train attracts thousands of tourists each day during the peak season. The route leads through the ﬁelds of the hinterland before it crosses the Serra de Tramuntana in the western parts of the island. Connecting Palma and So´ller since 1912, the train nowadays needs 1 hour to reach So´ller, which is only 27 km away from Palma. Nevertheless, it is recommended to book tickets in advance during peak season. The experience of an agricultural romantic landscape is a pull factor on Majorca, especially for tourists who do not have a car. In order to guarantee the security of the train, an overhaul with new technical features took place in 2006. As already mentioned, the train is frequently used, also by Germans. All in all, 40.1% of German tourists made use of the train and 73.8% know that this transportation mode exists. This proves the importance of the train as well as its attractiveness. Looking closer at the attraction, it seems that tourists from Palma and So´ller use the train more frequently than people who stay in the northern or north-eastern part of the island. Table 5 shows the relative importance of using the train between Palma and Port de So´ller for tourists having a rental car and those who do not have one. It is conﬁrmed that tourists who do have a rental car are more interested in discovering the island by using the train. Especially tourists who stay in the tourist regions Platja de Palma, Palma, and the Costa de Tramuntana intend to use the train. On Majorca, another kind of transport mode often used by many tourists is the ship. Boat tours are frequently offered at the coastal areas around the Table 5.

The Differences in Rental Car Users and Non-Rental Car Users Concerning the Use of Train (N ¼ 1,103).

Rental Car Usage

Yes No

Train Usage Yes

No

33.4% 45.4%

66.2% 54%

Trip Patterns of German Tourists

201

island and 45% of the respondents take a boat trip during their vacation. This number is slightly higher than those using the train connection due to the fact that boat trips are offered at more departure spots.

CONCLUSION German tourists to Majorca are interested in discovering the island with a rental car, and enjoy visiting cultural sites as well as strolling around during their day trips. The most often visited places are those mentioned in most travel guides. Not astonishing is the fact that Palma de Majorca is the most frequently seen place. Although a change can be identiﬁed towards a more individual travel pattern, the hinterland is not as positively affected as could be assumed since only a few places are visited more and more often. Local markets attract visitors to buy regional products and thus have a positive inﬂuence towards the economy of the landlocked areas of Majorca. As tourists often visit different small villages during their day trips, the potential growth in this type of market could be foreseen. Nowadays, bus trips also offer tours to markets in the hinterland, so that tourists who do not have a car can enjoy this experience as well. As the public transport network does not offer connections to the hinterland on an hourly basis, tourists without a rental car do not have the chance to visit these isolated areas. Although Majorca’s outback has a lot to offer, especially the traditional local lifestyle and unique cultures of Majorca, it does not yet proﬁt from the ongoing change. One idea to improve the economical situation of the island is to set up a route through these remote regions. This route could lead through the outback and allow the tourists explore local artefacts and cultures such as markets, windmills, ancient haciendas and conserved consuetudinary villages. The economical beneﬁt of using rental cars, especially for trips to the hinterland, is great. However, a conﬂict arises between the economy and the ecology in Majorca. By providing a better road trafﬁc infrastructure, the ecological system will be put under pressure. These days, the hinterland serves mainly as an area where people drive through, but if the trafﬁc infrastructure, including roads and parking spaces, is improved, more people will visit this landlocked region. Interestingly, villages within the hinterland that offer markets are frequently visited during peak season (such as Sineu). As the rural communities do not offer enough parking spaces, cars park as close as possible to the market and thus may disturb the local

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inhabitants’ daily life. In fact, an increasing number of cars tend to pollute the environment while constructing more parking spaces may harm the tranquillity of the countryside. Further, abstracted gas negatively inﬂuences the air, and hence stresses the ﬂora and fauna in the island. In addition, the hinterland is partially affected by huge buildings that obstruct the view. It is challenging to protect the natural setting within the hinterland and simultaneously to effectively accommodate German tourists’ trip needs. German tourists to Majorca want to travel more individually than ever before and thus will need more offers to create their personal itineraries. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the signposting, especially in the hinterland in order to pull tourists into the less economic developed regions of Majorca. The hinterland can only beneﬁt from the ongoing change in the travel behaviour of Germans if the necessary information will be provided. By creating new information packages, tourists will discover regions they would not have seen beforehand. Nevertheless, it is of highest importance to market the landlocked areas, where tourists can spend their vacations in peace and far away from the mass tourism market. The study shows that German tourists are visiting these areas with an increasing interest; especially the local markets serve as visitor magnets. In order to attract more German tourists into Majorca’s hinterland, special brochures should be distributed to those who do not rent a car. The informative material could provide critical insights for the tourists about feasible day trips to the landlocked regions by using the public transport system.

REFERENCES Aferry.de. (2007). Buchen nach strecke. Available at http://www.aferry.de/quote/booking/ afrybook.asp. Retrieved on 18 June 2007. Aguilo´, E., & Sastre, A. (1987). La demanda turı´ stica. In: Universitat de les Illes Balears (Ed.), Llibre blanc del Turisme a les Balears (Vol. I, pp. 332–446). Palma de Mallorca, Spain: Universitat de les Illes Balears. Beuthe, M., Himanen, V., Reggiani, A., & Zamparini, L. (2004). Transport developments and innovations in an evolving world. Heidelberg, Germany: Springer-Verlag Berlin. Bittner, R. (2006). Tourismus der Zukunft: Boomende Urlaubsformen, dominierende Zielgruppen, vera¨ndertes Reiseverhalten. Saarbru¨cken, Germany: VDM Verlag Dr. Mu¨ller. Conell, J., & Page, S. (2006). Tourism: A modern synthesis. London, UK: Thomson Learning. Conselleria de Turisme. (2006). Dades informatives: El turisme a les illes balears – Any 2006. Palma de Majorca, Spain: Govern de les Illes Balears. Cooper, Ch., Fletcher, J., Fyall, A., & Gilbert, D. (2005). Tourism: Principles and practice. Essex, UK: Pearson Education Limited. Davidson, R. (1999). Travel and tourism in Europe. New York: Pearson Education Limited.

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Forschungsgemeinschaft Urlaub und Reisen (F.U.R) (2006): The 35th Reiseanalyse RA 2005. Available at http://www.fur.de. Retrieved on November 3, 2006. Fyall, A., Garrod, B., & Leask, A. (2003). Managing visitor attractions: New directions. Oxford, UK: Butterworth Heinemann. Goeldner, C. R., & Ritchie, J. R. (2003). Tourism: Principles, practices, and philosophies. New Jersey: Wiley. GroX, S. (2005). Mobilita¨tsmanagement im Tourismus. Dresden, Germany: Forschungsintitut fu¨r Tourismus. Grundmann, H. R., & Ihnenfeldt, H. (2006). Auf Mallorca leben und arbeiten. Bielefeld, Germany: Reise Know-How. Gunn, C. A. (1994). Tourism planning basics concepts cases. Washington: Taylor & Francis. Hall, C. M., & Page, S. J. (2000). The geography of tourism and recreation: Environment, place and space. London, UK: Routledge. Holzapfel, T., & Krane, M. (2006). Fahrt ins Ungewisse. FVW International, 3, 60–63. Inkpen, G. (1999). Information technology for travel and tourism. Essex, UK: Pearson Education Limited. Lawton, L., & Weaver, D. (2002). Tourism management. Milton, Australia: Wiley Australia. Lew, A., & McKercher, B. (2005). Modelling tourist movements: A local destination analysis. Annals of Tourism Research, 2, 403–423. Lumsdon, L., & Page, S. J. (2004). Tourism and transport – Issues and agenda for the new millennium. Oxford, UK: Elsevier. Mun˜oz-Garı´ n, T. (2007). German demand for tourism in Spain. Tourism Management, 28, 12–22. Pallant, J. (2001). SPSS survival manual. Glasgow, UK: Open University Press. Palmer-Tous, T., Riera-Font, A., & Rossello´-Nadal, J. (2007). Taxing tourism: The case of rental cars in Mallorca. Tourism Management, 28, 271–279. Pikkemaat, B., Peters, M., & Weiermaier, K. (2006). Innovationen im tourismus: Wettbewerbsvorteile durch neue Ideen und Angebote. Berlin, Germany: Erich Schmidt Verlag. Prideaux, B. (2004). Transport and destination development. Tourism Management, 1, 53–63. Schwamberger, A. (2005). Mallorca ha¨ngt alle ab. FVW International, 19, 93. Swarbrooke, J. (2002). The development and management of visitor attractions. Oxford, UK: Butterworth Heinemann. Uysal, M. (1996). Global tourist behavior. Binghamton: The Harworth Press. Waugh, D. (2000). Geography: An integrated approach. Surrey, UK: Nelson. Wheatcroft, St. (1990). Towards transnational airlines. Tourism Management, 2, 353–358. Zillinger, M. (2007). A time-geographical approach on German car-tourists in Sweden. Tourism Geographies, 1, 64–83.

RESEARCH NOTES

AN IMPORTANCE–PERFORMANCE MODEL OF RESTAURANT DINING EXPERIENCE Meng-Lei Monica Hu, Ting-Kuo Chen and Tsung-Lin Ou ABSTRACT The purpose of this research is to evaluate the perceptions of local tourists concerning the importance and performance of their dining experience and restaurant selection factors at tourist destinations. Five hundred forty-one questionnaires collected from a series of on-site surveys at popular tourist destinations were analyzed. The results of importance– performance analysis (IPA) illustrate that no attribute fell in the Concentrate Here quadrant; staff service, service speed, food quality, interior design, comfort, cleanliness, restaurant scent, food scent attributes, and the ‘‘food service’’ factor fell under the Keep up the Good Work quadrants; noise, music, new experience, price attributes, and the ‘‘servicescape’’ factor fell in the Low Priority quadrant; servicescape lighting fell in the Possible Overkill quadrant. In conclusion, restaurants at popular tourist destinations have done very well in most service items and seem to have reached the professional standards expected by mass tourists.

Advances in Hospitality and Leisure, Volume 5, 207–222 Copyright r 2009 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1745-3542/doi:10.1108/S1745-3542(2009)0000005015

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INTRODUCTION A positive consumer experience often plays a pivotal role in sustaining business growth (Leong, 2008). There has often been a tendency toward creating optimal experiences for customers, particularly in the service sector. Experience is a broad term that can refer to any sensation or knowledge resulting from an individual’s participation in daily activities. Touring delivers a multifaceted experience, such as personal tours, entertainment, learning, and spending. Speciﬁcally, visiting restaurants – a meal experience – could be an inevitable and important component of the touring experience. A memorable meal experience at a destination may be translated into a factor inﬂuencing the total trip satisfaction; hence, a well-planned meal package is viewed by tourism marketers as vital services attribute impacting tourists’ trip experience. Tourists may likely revisit a destination because of a singular dining experience the destination had offered. According to the Taiwan Tourism Bureau (2004), meal-related activities have become one of the most popular leisure pursuits in Taiwan. Gourmet meals and sightseeing often are advertised together to entice the demand from domestic tourists. Many studies focusing on dining experiences exist but the majority of these studies have only touched on consumer satisfaction issues (Lord, Putrevn, & Parsa, 2004). Indeed, little research has been done to assess the perceived importance and performance of tourists’ dining experience at destinations. Owing to the above shortcomings, this present research is an attempt to examine domestic tourists’ perceived importance of dining experience and the performance of the restaurants at tourist destinations. The resultant data of the study could help meal providers render positive experience that meets tourists’ meal preferences and enhance the level of tourist satisfaction at destinations.

Dining Experience and Restaurant Selection of Travelers Meal is always regarded as an essential part of a leisure journey. The extant literature suggested that cities, regions, or countries could effortlessly draw tourists’ attention as long as a unique culinary experience could be served (Cohen & Avieli, 2004). Indeed, from the service perspective, gastronomy including ﬁne dining experiences is an essential consideration in designing a blueprint to target niche travel markets to serve afﬂuent customers. Tourists can be attracted to a new location because of the image of ﬁne dining experiences offered at destinations. Therefore, restaurants located at

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destinations may have been playing an important role in contributing to tourist growth in the host community (Quan & Wang, 2004). During the last three decades, the tourist experience including dining has become one of the most popular academic topics, as reﬂected in the constant growth of social science literature on the subject and other similar issues (Kivela, Inbakaran, & Reece, 1999). Compared with other cultural tourism themes, dining, along with other phenomena such as religion, events, festivals, and architecture, are considered to be the ‘‘gray areas’’ of cultural tourism (Hughes, 1996). The majority of previous studies on dining experience have used satisfaction to discuss and measure dining’s consumption experience (Lord et al., 2004). Yuksel and Yuksel (2002) examined dining experience from the viewpoint of the overall touring enhancement process and the degree to which the experience can be recalled. Andersson and Mossberg (2004) explored dining experience by six aspects: food, service, ﬁne cuisine, restaurant interior, good company, and other customers (Hanefors & Mossberg, 2003) because the importance of social context in the dining experience was acknowledged. Food choice and restaurant selection are regarded as a complex function of preferences for sensory (taste, odor, and texture) characteristics and are integrated with the inﬂuence of non-sensory factors, including food-related expectations and attributes, health claims, price, convenience, servicespace concerns, cleanliness, taste, menu variety, and mood (Hanefors & Mossberg, 2003). The importance of social context in the dining experience is acknowledged, that is, ‘‘food is never just food and its signiﬁcance can never be purely nutritional’’ (Caplan, 1997, p. 3).

Importance–Performance Analysis Model Martilla and James (1977) ﬁrst proposed the importance–performance analysis (IPA) as a tool to develop companies’ management strategies. They proposed that IPA is a low-cost and easy-to-understand technique for exploring different aspects of the marketing mix, and the tool enables managers to reallocate resources according to four identiﬁed areas. IPA is widely used by researchers in various disciplines and has been proven to be a popular managerial tool. Based on the comparison of importance and performance of Martilla and James’ service quality attributes, IPA is suggested to be a useful technique for addressing both importance and performance attribute questions.

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In essence, IPA provides an attractive snapshot of how well the company meets customers’ important concerns on selected attributes and, at the same time, offers guidelines for the company’s future resource allocation decisions. Many researchers presented an illustration and interpretation of the IPA grid, which is divided into four quadrants (Table 1) (Martilla & James, 1977; Martin, 1995; Sampson & Showalter, 1999). The attributes that are important to customers’ purchasing decisions but on which the company does not perform well are classiﬁed into the ﬁrst quadrant labeled as Concentrate Here. The company then needs to focus on improving its performance on these attributes. Likewise, ‘‘Keep up the Good Work,’’ the second quadrant, captures the attributes that customers think are important to their purchasing decision and on which customers also perceive the company (or product) to be performing well. Attributes falling in the ‘‘Possible Overkill,’’ the third quadrant, indicate that they are relatively less important but the company performs well on these attributes. Some attributes may fall in the fourth quadrant, ‘‘Low Priority,’’ because both importance and performance ratings of the attribute are lower than average. These items are likely to receive a low priority in resource allocation decisions.

IMPORTANCE

Table 1.

Importance Performance Analysis Grid.

QUADRANT I

QUADRANT II

Concentrate Here High importance Low performance

Keep Up the Good Work High importance High performance

QUADRANT III

QUADRANT IV

Low Priority Low importance Low performance

Possible Overkill Low importance High performance PERFORMANCE

Notes: Quadrant I: This suggests that improvement efforts should be Concentrated Here. Quadrant II: The message here is to Keep up the Good Work. Quadrant III: Although performance levels may by low in this cell, managers should not be overly concerned, since the attributes in this cell are not perceived to be very important. Limited resources should be expended on this Low Priority cell. Quadrant IV: Respondents are satisﬁed with the performance of the organization, but managers should consider present efforts on the attributes of this cell as being superﬂuous/unnecessary.

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METHOD The sample selected in this study included domestic tourists visiting a destination. A pilot test consisting of 100 questionnaires was conducted to ensure the scale reliability. The Cronbach’s alpha tested was over 0.70. To test for validity, the ﬁnal version of the questionnaire was examined by tourism professors to ensure content validity and the on-site interview method was used. Every ﬁve tourists passing through the main exit of a predetermined study site, which was a popular destination, was approached and given a questionnaire for self-completion over a two-phase (lunch and dinner) survey period each day. The research team ﬁrst asked the participants if they had just had lunch or dinner at the destination. Those answering yes were invited to join the intercept survey. This study selected popular tourist destinations according to the literature provided by Taiwan Tourism Bureau (2004). Interviewers, who had received intensive training, were then dispatched to 16 different tourist destinations in Taiwan. Consequently, 580 questionnaires were collected immediately at intersections outside the major exits of domestic tourism locations or after the tourists left restaurants or food stands. The respondents were asked to indicate the perceived importance of various attributes of the meal service when they chose a restaurant at the destination and their perceptions of the restaurant’s performance during the actual dining experience. This study used a closed-ended questionnaire which contained 18 attributes to assess the dining experiences that were identiﬁed based on a literature review (Andersson & Mossberg, 2004; Hanefors & Mossberg, 2003). Each dining experience attribute was rated using a 6-point Likert-type scale, ranging from ‘‘strongly disagree (1)’’ to ‘‘strongly agree (6)’’ in the performance segment. In addition, the study questionnaire also included socio-demographic measures. Descriptive analyses entailing frequency, mean, and standard deviation were conducted to reveal visitors’ demographic status and variations among 18 dining experience attributes. After a series of t-tests, ﬁve attributes that demonstrated insigniﬁcant difference were eliminated for further analyses, including ‘‘cooking method,’’ ‘‘tranquility,’’ ‘‘convenience,’’ ‘‘servicescape color,’’ and ‘‘servicescape space and function.’’ Cronbach’s alpha was calculated to test the scale reliability. Exploratory factor analysis with VARIMAX rotation was employed to test the perceived importance of the remaining 13 attributes. Factor loadings represented the correlation between an original variable and its respective factor, and only factor loadings equal to or greater than 0.50 were included in a factor. In addition, only factors

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with eigenvalues equal to or greater than 1 were considered signiﬁcant. Mean scores rating on the perceived importance of the dining experience, performance of restaurants’ dining experience attributes, and factors and attributes of dining experience in Taiwan tourism locations were computed to assess the importance of each item. Then, the mean scores of the 13 dining experience and factor attributes were plotted on the IPA grid according to the perceived importance and performance levels of Taiwan’s domestic tourists.

FINDING AND DISCUSSION A total of 580 questionnaires were distributed to respondents. After the deletion of incomplete questionnaires, the total valid samples were 541, representing a response rate of 93.3%. There were 232 (43.5%) females and 301 (56.5%) males. The main age group was 21–30 (45.7% of respondents), followed by 31–40 (22%), 41–50 (12.8%), and below 20 (11.1%). The remaining age groups only accounted for a minority of respondents, with 5.6% in the 51–60 age group and 2.8% in the 61-or-above age group. More than half of the respondents, or 53.8%, had a college degree. Marital status was mostly single (55.5%), with 37.2% married and 6.9% others. As for profession, there were 154 students (28.5%), 80 engaged in business (15%), 100 white-collar workers (18.6%), and 46 housewives (8.6%). For income level, 39.2% earned below NT$20,000 (1 USD ¼ 33.81 NTD; as of March 20, 2009), 17.7% earned between NT$20,001 and NT$30,000, and 16% earned between NT$30,001 and NT$40,000.

Perceived Importance of Domestic Tourists’ Dining Experience Attributes In order to address the perceived importance of meal experience, the means and standard deviations were calculated. The results were presented according to the ranking of the mean scores (Table 2). All 13 dining attributes had a mean score ranging from 4.40 to 5.02. All mean scores were higher than 4.40, denoting that domestic tourists ranked all these attributes as above ‘‘mildly important.’’ Statistics from t-test, which compared pair attributes, showed signiﬁcant differences (t ¼ 2.02–9.91, p o 0.05–0.00). The top ﬁve most important attributes were ‘‘cleanliness,’’ ‘‘food quality,’’ ‘‘comfort,’’ ‘‘food scent,’’ and ‘‘staff service.’’ Domestic tourists perceived ‘‘cleanliness’’ and ‘‘food quality’’ as the most important attributes for dining

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Table 2.

213

Ranking for the Importance of Dining Experience (N ¼ 443).

Dining Attributes Cleanliness Food quality Comfort Food scent Staff service Restaurant scent Interior design Service speed Servicescape lighting Music Noise Price New experience

Mean Score

Std. Dev.

Ranking

5.02 5.01 4.91 4.91 4.88 4.87 4.85 4.83 4.66 4.65 4.63 4.53 4.40

0.93 0.86 0.94 0.86 0.90 0.91 0.94 0.87 0.87 0.99 1.19 0.99 0.99

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Note: The importance ranking was based on the mean scores measured on a Likert-type scale ranging from 1 to 6.

experience, as these were critical features for restaurants located at popular tourist destinations in Taiwan. This result is similar to that of another study (Nield, Koazk, & LeGrys, 2000), which stated that cleanliness and quality of food are tangible parts of restaurant service and a kind of instant subjective impact. It is suggested that at destinations tourists are inclined to have delicious meals in those restaurants that emphasized on a clean environment. Relatively, ‘‘music (M ¼ 4.65),’’ ‘‘noise (M ¼ 4.63),’’ ‘‘price (M ¼ 4.53),’’ and ‘‘new experience (M ¼ 4.40)’’ were perceived as the least important attributes. Findings of the former three attributes could be easily explained because restaurants in domestic tourism locations are usually crowded and noisy. Tourists will get used to this feature when visiting restaurants in tourism locations and they may also think that restaurants that are more crowded give an impression of high food quality, low food price, and low food reputation (Tse, Sin, & Yim, 2002). ‘‘New experience’’ was the most unimportant attribute, which is an interesting result, because consumers normally love to try new foods in different places. This ﬁnding can be explained as follows. First, traveling and sampling local products mean sharing the local culture. Domestic tourists may already be more interested in local food with special ‘‘historicity’’ or ‘‘ethnicity’’ characteristics so they do not expect different or new experiences. Second, there are enough varieties of new restaurants and tourists expect higher authenticity in their dining experience. Third, food must taste good but it does not necessarily have to be a new ﬂavor.

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Performance of Dining Experience at Taiwan’s Popular Tourist Destinations The mean scores of the performance of dining experience at Taiwan’s popular tourist destinations on the same 13 attributes were also calculated. The results were reported according to the ranking of the mean scores in Table 3. It shows that the mean scores for all 13 statements ranged from 4.40 to 4.08. Similar to the results of perceived importance of dining experience attributes, all 13 statements had standard deviations lower than or close to 1. The top ﬁve performance attributes were ‘‘food quality (M ¼ 4.40),’’ ‘‘food scent (M ¼ 4.40),’’ ‘‘staff service (M ¼ 4.38),’’ ‘‘service speed (M ¼ 4.36),’’ and ‘‘cleanliness (M ¼ 4.35),’’ indicating the quality of dining experience at tourist destinations.

Restaurant Selection Factors Derived from Factor Analysis The perceived importance of the 13 dining restaurant attributes was factoranalyzed using principal component analysis with orthogonal VARIMAX rotation to identify the underlying dimensions of restaurant selection attributes. This purpose was also to simplify the subsequent IPA

Table 3.

Ranking of Performance of Dining Experience (N ¼ 532).

Performance of Dining Experience Food quality Food scent Staff service Service speed Cleanliness Comfort Restaurant scent Servicescape lighting Interior design Price New experience Music Noise

Mean Score

Std. Dev.

Ranking

4.40 4.40 4.38 4.36 4.35 4.34 4.34 4.33 4.32 4.24 4.18 4.16 4.08

0.96 0.86 0.88 0.82 0.99 0.94 0.96 0.90 0.93 0.85 0.79 1.07 1.15

1 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Note: Performance ranking was based on the mean scores measured on a Likert-type scale ranging from 1 to 6.

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procedures. Results of the factor analysis, which suggested a two-factor solution, included 13 dining experience attributes and explained 58.3 percent of the variance in the data with eigenvalues greater than 1.0 and factor loadings greater than 0.50. The 13 items for dining experience were simpliﬁed into two independent constructs, ‘‘servicescape’’ and ‘‘food services.’’ Cronbach’s alpha was conducted to test the reliability and internal consistency of each factor. Results showed that the alpha coefﬁcients of the two factors were 0.919 and 0.876, respectively, and 0.893 for the entire scale, well above the minimum threshold of 0.70 suggested by Nunnally (1967). Speciﬁcally, the attributes were classiﬁed into ‘‘servicescape,’’ which included the decoration atmosphere; ‘‘visual,’’ which included lighting, color, and space and function; ‘‘olfactory,’’ which included the scent of the restaurant and foods; ‘‘auditory,’’ which included music and tranquility; and ‘‘cleanliness and sanitation.’’ Other attributes were classiﬁed into ‘‘food services,’’ which included food scent, food quality, staff service, and service speed.

Importance–Performance Analysis of Dining Experience Attributes and Restaurant Selection Factors IPA was applied to compare the importance and performance of dining experience attributes and restaurant selection factors derived from a factor analysis. The mean scores and standard deviations of the perceived importance of the 13 food experience attributes and food satisfaction were tabulated (Table 4). These results were plotted on the IPA grid to present dining experience attributes and factors (Figs. 1 and 2). In Figs. 1 and 2, the X-axis represents the perception of performance scores in relation to tourists’ dining experience of selected restaurants. The Y-axis characterizes the relative weights of the importance attributes in relation to restaurant selection. The four quadrants are constructed based on the mean scores of the importance and performance ratings. For dining experience attributes (Fig. 1), the mean importance rating for the pooled data was 4.78 and mean performance rating was 4.30. The mean importance rating for the pooled data of restaurant selection factors (Fig. 2) was 4.86 and mean performance rating was 4.34. The grand means for importance and performance were used to place the axis on the grid. As shown in Fig. 1, no attribute was identiﬁed in the Concentrate Here quadrant, eight attributes were identiﬁed in the Keep up

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Table 4.

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Perceived Importance and Performance of Dining Experience (N ¼ 541).

Dining Attributes

A. New experience B. Price C. Staff service D. Service speed E. Food quality F. Interior design G. Comfort H. Cleanliness I. Servicescape lighting J. Music K. Noise L. Restaurant scent M. Food scent Grand mean

Importance

Performance

Meana

Std. dev.

Meanb

Std. dev.

4.40 4.53 4.88 4.83 5.01 4.85 4.91 5.02 4.66 4.65 4.63 4.87 4.91 4.78

0.99 0.99 0.90 0.87 0.86 0.94 0.94 0.93 0.87 0.99 1.19 0.91 0.86

4.18 4.24 4.38 4.36 4.40 4.32 4.34 4.35 4.33 4.16 4.08 4.34 4.40 4.30

0.79 0.85 0.88 0.82 0.91 0.93 0.94 0.99 0.90 1.07 1.15 0.91 0.86

a Mean scale: 1 ¼ strongly unimportant, 2 ¼ unimportant, 3 ¼ mildly unimportant, 4 ¼ mildly important, 5 ¼ important, 6 ¼ strongly important. b Mean scale: 1 ¼ strongly disagree, 2 ¼ disagree, 3 ¼ mildly disagree, 4 ¼ mildly agree, 5 ¼ agree, 6 ¼ strongly agree.

the Good Work quadrant, four in the Low Priority quadrant, and one in the Possible Overkill quadrant. Fig. 1 also shows that no restaurant selection factor was identiﬁed in the Concentrate Here quadrant, one attribute was identiﬁed in the Keep up the Good Work quadrant, one was identiﬁed in the Low Priority quadrant, and none was identiﬁed in the Possible Overkill quadrant.

Concentrate Here Quadrant The Concentrate Here quadrant (Fig. 1) captured no attribute. It was rated above average for importance but below average for performance. There was also no restaurant selection factor in the Concentrate Here quadrant, according to Fig. 2. These results suggest that domestic tourists seem satisﬁed with the dining experience and the selected restaurants in tourism destinations.

An Importance–Performance Model of Restaurant Dining Experience 51

Keep up the Good Work H E

Concentrate Here 5

Importance

F

M

G L

C D

I

J

K

217

B

4.5 A

Low Priority

Possible Overkill

4 4

4.1

4.2

4.3

4.4

4.5

Performance Notes: A. New experience B. Price C. Staff service D. Service speed E. Food quality

F. Interior design G. Comfort H. Cleanliness I. Servicescape lighting J. Music

Fig. 1.

K. Noise L. Restaurant scent M. Food scent

IPA Grid for Dining Attributes.

Keep Up the Good Work Quadrant Among the 13 dining experience attributes, eight were identiﬁed in the Keep up the Good Work quadrant (Fig. 1). Speciﬁcally, these attributes included staff service, service speed, food quality, interior design, comfort, cleanliness, restaurant scent, and food scent, which were all rated above average for both importance and performance. In Fig. 2, only ‘‘food services’’ was identiﬁed in the Keep up the Good Work quadrant. This result conveys the message that in general, dining experience and restaurant selection of

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MENG-LEI MONICA HU ET AL. 5.1 Keep up the Good Work

Concentrate Here 5

Food services ˙(4.90, 4.38)

Importance

(4.82, 4.30)

Servicescape

4.5

Low Priority

Possible Overkill

4 4

4.1

Fig. 2.

4.2

4.3 Performance

4.4

4.5

IPA Grid for Restaurant Selection Factors.

Taiwan’s tourism locations have performed well in the above respects. As all the mean score ratings of performance were lower than those of the importance ratings, efforts should be made to maintain and improve the service standards in these areas. For example, cleanliness of restaurants is the most important attribute of the dining experience (M ¼ 5.02) but its performance ranking is ﬁfth (M ¼ 4.35). In sum, cleanliness, which includes hygiene and sanitation of food, drinks, and containers, and an undisputable attribute for choosing restaurants in tourist destinations, requires further attention from destination managers and service providers.

Low Priority Quadrant The four dining experience attributes loaded in the Low Priority quadrant (Fig. 1) were noise, music, new experience, and price. One restaurant selection factor identiﬁed in the Low Priority quadrant (Fig. 2) was

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‘‘servicescape,’’ which was rated as below average for both importance and performance. This implies that relatively fewer resources should be expended in this low priority cell. Although the performance of dining experience at destinations was below average in this quadrant, efforts should not be overly concentrated on these areas, as attributes and restaurant selection factors identiﬁed here were rated as low importance by respondents compared with other dining experience attributes and selection factors. However, this does not mean that the industry should reduce its efforts to improve on these aspects. In general, all these dining experience attributes had mean scores of over 4.30, indicating that respondents rated them as mildly important to important. In other words, poor performance in these areas would cause unhappy experiences and generate dissatisfaction. Moreover, the importance rating of ‘‘servicescape’’ was 4.82, which is very close to the mean of 4.86 on the Y-axis as well as the threshold of Concentrate Here quadrant, so restaurant operators still cannot ignore the importance of servicescape.

Possible Overkill Quadrant There was one dining experience attribute loaded in the Possible Overkill quadrant: servicescape light (Fig. 1). This attribute was rated as lower than the average in importance but higher than average in performance. In fact, domestic tourists might consider this attribute as less important compared with other attributes. Also, good performance was observed from restaurants or food stands of tourist destinations. Efforts should thus be made toward maintaining high standards without overutilizing resources in this attribute. The analysis of restaurant selection factor did not identify any factor as being low in importance but relatively high in performance. One possible explanation is that most domestic tourists simply perceived that all restaurant selection factors presented to them were important and that they would not settle for anything less as far as the restaurant performance was concerned.

CONCLUSIONS This study identiﬁed 13 pertinent food experience attributes for domestic tourists and two restaurant selection factors. Using IPA analysis, this study

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compared the attributes as well as the importance and performance of the restaurant selection at tourism locations as perceived by domestic tourists in Taiwan. The instrument developed in this study can contribute to the existing literature and focus groups in terms of assessing dining experience and restaurant performance and also give rise to the replication of research in restaurant and hospitality related studies. The IPA grids (Figs. 1 and 2) illustrate that no attribute fell in the Concentrate Here quadrant; staff service, service speed, food quality, interior design, comfort, cleanliness, restaurant scent, food scent attributes, and ‘‘food services’’ factor were identiﬁed in the Keep up the Good Work quadrant; noise, music, new experience, price attributes, and ‘‘servicescape’’ factor were identiﬁed in the Low Priority quadrant; servicescape lighting was identiﬁed in the Possible Overkill quadrant. The results of this study reveal that the restaurants at popular tourist destinations have done very well in most service items and seemed to have reached the professional standards expected by mass tourists. Because Chinese cuisine emphasizes on ‘‘color,’’ ‘‘scent,’’ and ‘‘taste,’’ we can understand why the ﬁve most important attributes were ‘‘cleanliness,’’ ‘‘food quality,’’ ‘‘food scent,’’ ‘‘comfort,’’ and ‘‘staff service.’’ The importance of these attributes, as shown from the study results, may conform to the ﬁndings on variety seekers, comfort seekers, and value seekers proposed by Lord et al. (2004). In this study, we also found that Taiwan’s domestic tourists do not view new dining experience as very important. This phenomenon is similar to the categorization of gastronomy tourists by Hjalager (2003). Domestic tourists are more likely recreational gastronomy tourists, who are more conservative as they appreciate and are familiar with foods and beverages served in their country. They may be more interested in the food that is embedded in their memories, and food service industries must accept that the role of gastronomy is also one of cultural tourism (Kivela & Crotts, 2006). Tourism is one of the quintessential experience industries that Pine and Gilmore (1998) argue will come to dominate the economy in the future. As the basis of the economy shifts from delivering services to staging experiences, the quality of the basic elements of the food product will increasingly be taken keenly by consumers, who will demand the absorption of experiences as part of the tourism and gastronomy product (Richards, 2002, p. 11). As for the practical implications of these ﬁndings, this study shows the importance of tourists’ dining experience that was also found in the studies of Nield et al. (2000) and congruent with the results of Yuksel and Yuksel (2002).

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Finally, restaurant managers should still keep up their efforts in some attributes and factors and may have to improve the ‘‘servicescape’’ factor of their restaurants or food stands. Also, more and more domestic tourists pay attention to their health and psychological well being during the trip (Taiwan Tourism Bureau, 2004). This result is in line with the ﬁndings of Kwortnik (2008). Customers see eating out as not only for body maintenance, but also for enjoyment. A good dining experience at destinations should not only focus on customers’ needs, but also quality of experience, which could become a part of the memorable moments during the trip.

REFERENCES Andersson, T. D., & Mossberg, L. (2004). The dining experience: Do restaurants satisfy customer needs? Food Service Technology, 4(4), 171–177. Caplan, P. (1997). Approaches to the study of food: Health and identity. In: P. Caplan (Ed.), Food, health and identity (pp. 1–31). London: Routledge. Cohen, E., & Avieli, N. (2004). Food in tourism attraction and impediment. Annals of Tourism Research, 31(4), 755–778. Hanefors, M., & Mossberg, L. (2003). Searching for the extraordinary meal experience. Journal of Business and Management, 9(3), 249–270. Hjalager, A. M. (2003). What do tourists eat and why? Towards a sociology of gastronomy and tourism. In: J. Collen & G. Richards (Eds), Gastronomy and tourism (pp. 54–74). Gravenwezel/Schilde, Belgium: Academie Voor de Streekgebonden Gastronomie. Hughes, H. L. (1996). Redeﬁning cultural tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 23(3), 707–709. Kivela, J., & Crotts, J. C. (2006). Tourism and gastronomy: Gastronomy’s inﬂuence on how tourists experience a destination. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 30(3), 354–377. Kivela, J., Inbakaran, R., & Reece, J. (1999). Consumer research in the restaurant environment, Part 1: A conceptual model of dining satisfaction and return patronage. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 11(5), 205–222. Kwortnik, R. J. (2008). Shipscape inﬂuence on the leisure cruise experience. International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, 2(4), 289–311. Leong, C. C. (2008). Service performance measurement: Developing customer perspective calculators for the hotel industry. Advances in Hospitality and Leisure, 4, 101–120. Lord, K. R., Putrevn, S., & Parsa, H. G. (2004). The cross-border consumer: Investigation of motivators and inhibitors in dining experiences. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, 28(2), 209–229. Martilla, J. A., & James, J. C. (1977). Importance-performance analysis. Journal of Marketing, 41(1), 77–79. Martin, D. W. (1995). An importance-performance analysis of service providers’ perception of quality service in the hotel industry. Journal of Hospitality and Leisure Marketing, 3(1), 5–17.

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Nield, K., Koazk, M., & LeGrys, G. (2000). The role of food service in tourist satisfaction. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 19(3), 375–384. Nunnally, J. C. (1967). Psychometric theory. New York: McGraw-Hill Inc. Pine, B., & Gilmore, J. (1998). Welcome to the experience economy. Harvard Business Review, July–August, 97–105. Quan, S., & Wang, N. (2004). Towards a structural model of the tourist experience: An illustration from food experiences in tourism. Tourism Management, 25(3), 297–305. Richards, G. (2002). Gastronomy: An essential ingredient in tourism production and consumption? In: A. Hjalager & G. Richards (Eds), Tourism and gastronomy (pp. 1–20). London: Taylor & Francis Group. Sampson, S. E., & Showalter, M. J. (1999). The performance-importance response function: Observations and implications. The Service Industries Journal, 19(3), 1–25. Taiwan Tourism Bureau. (2004). 2004 annual survey report on R. O. C. domestic tourists. Taiwan: Taipei Tourism Bureau. Tse, C. B., Sin, L., & Yim, H. K. (2002). How a crowded restaurant affects consumers’ attribution behavior. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 21(4), 449–454. Yuksel, A., & Yuksel, F. (2002). Measurement of tourist satisfaction with restaurant services: A segment-based approach. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 9(1), 52–68.

HOTEL OFFER ADJUSTMENTS FOR SENIOR CITIZEN GUESTS: PERCEPTION OF SWISS HOTELIERS Andrew Mungall and Thouraya Gherissi Labben ABSTRACT This paper presents the results of a questionnaire-based exploratory survey among hoteliers in Switzerland, measuring their perception of the senior clientele. These hoteliers were also asked about the speciﬁc arrangements they have made in the past for the senior customers, as well as the investments they have undertaken. The main ﬁnding is that, even though the senior segment is recognised by most hoteliers as being potentially proﬁtable, a less than ﬂattering image of this customer category seems to have dissuaded a great number of Swiss hoteliers from concentrating a lot of effort and resources on adapting their products and services to this customer segment. This bad image (serious physical handicaps, problems in cohabitation with other clients) deserves to be corrected. Besides, the wish of senior tourists for a personalised product and service should be taken into account by Swiss hoteliers in their future investments and offers aimed at the senior guests.

Advances in Hospitality and Leisure, Volume 5, 223–239 Copyright r 2009 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1745-3542/doi:10.1108/S1745-3542(2009)0000005016

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ANDREW MUNGALL AND THOURAYA GHERISSI LABBEN

INTRODUCTION According to the United Nations (UN Population Division, 2007), the share of citizen aged over 65 already represents 15% of the total population in the developed countries. By 2050, this share is expected to grow up to reach on average more than a quarter of the population. These changes, faced mainly by developed countries, are associated with the demographic transition from a regime of high mortality and high fertility to one of low mortality and low fertility. ‘As time elapses, if the reductions of fertility and mortality continue, they reinforce the ageing process because, over time, sustained fertility decline leads not only to decreasing numbers of births and declining proportions of children but also of young people and eventually of adults of working age. Furthermore, increases in longevity accelerate the growth of the proportion of older persons more than of young people or adults. Today most countries in the world are already well into the demographic transition but there is considerable diversity with respect to the stage of the transition that each has reached. Developed countries are starting the third stage of the transition and many have populations that are among the oldest in the world’. (UN Population Division, 2007, p. 1)

Tourism and hospitality are among the economic branches that are mostly impacted by the ageing population in developed countries. Senior citizens are often considered as those who have retired from their professional activity. They represent a huge client potential for the tourism and hospitality branches for the following reasons: These clients have time to travel during the year whenever they want, independent of the ofﬁcial holiday and school-break periods. The increase of life expectancy being more and more associated with certain rejuvenation, seniors are more active and autonomous (thanks especially to medical progress and to the popularity of ﬁtness and wellness activities). Despite a signiﬁcant disparity, revenues and fortune of retired people in developed countries are often characterised by a higher than average purchasing power. Relatively stable revenues and the fact of no longer having to face up to important investments such as the purchase of a place to live, contribute to this situation. All these reasons, as well as the wish to enjoy quality products, result in these senior citizens staying as a general rule, for a longer length of time in a hotel and spending more during their stay.

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LITERATURE REVIEW In addition to showing the growing importance of the senior segment, the literature on senior tourism so far has mostly measured the perception by these senior clients of tourism and hospitality products and services, and analysed their expectations and needs. For example, Callan and Bowman (2000) have undertaken a survey of 104 British senior travellers, who rated the importance of 38 hotel attributes when selecting a hotel or judging its quality, through a self-administered questionnaire distributed at local branch meetings of societies for mature people in the United Kingdom. Respondents had high expectations of hotel service quality. They were a discerning group, placing greater emphasis on value for money than on actual price or discounting alone. The ﬁndings highlighted the importance placed on service staff attitude and behaviour. Leisure facilities were found to be relatively unimportant, but certain attributes, particular to senior citizens, pertaining to mobility limitations were found to be salient to an important proportion of respondents. Signiﬁcant differences were identiﬁed according to gender, age and retirement status, indicating that the mature market is heterogeneous. Despite the fact that the majority of studies have considered senior market segmentation based on the population age, a growing number of analyses put forward the fact that to reach a certain age limit is not changing consumption behaviour. As Burt and Gabbot (1995) concluded, the literature consensus is that, as with other customers, the senior market is not homogeneous, although often treated as such (Chief Leisure Ofﬁcers Association, 1996; Mazur, 1993). As Doka (1992) said, older people often have less in common with each other than younger generations. They did not have the unifying culture of global media and technology that today’s youth market experiences, and thus often vary extensively in terms of family/marital status, ethnicity, geography and social class (Carrigan, 1998). A more sophisticated basis for segmentation is required, taking into account the lifestyle differences between seniors. Shoemaker (1989) was one of the ﬁrst researchers to question the homogeneity of the senior tourism market. His ﬁndings suggest that on the basis of tourism motivation, the market can be segmented into three clusters: family cluster, active resters and older set. As mentioned by Fleischer and Pizam (2002), other authors such as Vincent and de Los Santos (1990) and Lieux, Weaver, and McCleary (1994) came up afterwards with more reﬁned segment groups. An approach more oriented to the value allocated to products and services is more and more followed to segment the senior market. Mathur,

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Sherman, and Schiffman (1998) have relied on this approach to identify opportunities for the marketing of travel services aimed at senior clients. A discriminating analysis has allowed them to divide the 199 respondents of the study into distinctive groups: a ﬁrst segmentation by age (55–64 years old; 65 years old and more) and a second segmentation by value (new-age seniors-‘new-age elderly’, traditional seniors). These senior groups have then been proﬁled in terms of demographic aspects, value and interest orientations, and of behaviour when travelling. The main ﬁndings are that new-age seniors are much more independent and wish to have more control of their activity. They want to beneﬁt from more ﬂexibility in their activities during their stay. Moreover, their relative lack of materialism, compared to more traditional seniors, suggest the need to put the accent on the personal experiences generated by the stay, rather than on the price of the holiday package. This group of new-age seniors seems to be attracted by experiences allowing them to develop themselves on a personal basis. Apart from these studies based on the demand-side, the perception of the senior clientele by tourism and hospitality actors has been much less analysed. Marvel (1999) interviewed managers of 20 international hotel companies in order to identify the critical factors for competing in the senior market. In this context, certain basic services were found to be especially important to an older clientele. Thus, hotels should provide as much as possible single rooms to senior clients with as little extra charge as possible as there are many single seniors travelling in groups, particularly widows. Moreover, smaller food portions are much appreciated by senior citizens, as older people do not have the same appetite as younger people. Other features include night lights, extra blankets and legible and visible signage in public areas hallways and restaurants. Further, architectural and design features speciﬁcally adapted to the senior client were found to be: Lighting: It should be reﬂected off walls or ceiling in order to reduce glare and to avoid confusing shadows. Colour schemes: They should present a clear contrast. Floor plans: All major pathways from the lobby entrance should be clearly indicated. Changes in ﬂoor materials, lighting or signage can be used to orient arriving guests. Acoustics: Sound absorbent materials should be embedded in ceilings, walls and ﬂoors to reduce the distortions from echoes that sometimes perturb people who are hard of hearing. Stairs: Each ﬂoor level change should incorporate at least two steps (at least 18 cm high and 28 cm broad). The treads can be emphasised with

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track lighting or contrasting colour schemes. There should be handrails on at least one side. Elevators: They should have an entrance at least a metre wide to accommodate wheel chairs, and there should be verbal announcement to indicate the ﬂoor level when the elevator stops. Doors: They should be easy to operate. Door handles should be horizontal. Bathrooms: Grab bar supports in bathrooms are one of the most valued hotel features. Tubs and showers should have hand-held nozzles that can be used whilst standing or sitting. Very few literatures have been written about this issue on small- and medium-sized hotels. Wei, Ruys, and Muller (1999) made a gap analysis of hotel attributes by marketing managers and older people in Australia. In considering the relevant hotel attributes for Australian older people in particular, this study also conducted focus groups with older people and a teleconference with tourism and hospitality professionals. More precisely, the perceptions of seven attributes of three- to ﬁve-star hotels were surveyed by marketing managers and by older people aged 60 and above who return to a satisfying hotel. The attributes studied were price, location, facilities, hotel restaurant, room furnishings, front-desk efﬁciency and staff attitude. Usable data was analysed for 154 older consumers in Queensland (Australia), and 44 hotel marketing managers in Australia working at three- to ﬁve-star hotels. Respondents’ ratings of a set of eight hotel attribute-level scenarios were subjected to conjoint analysis in order to infer the relative importance of each attribute to both groups. Results show that both seniors and marketing managers considered hotel facilities to be the most important attribute, followed by room furnishings. Thus, a study dealing with the perception of such clientele by hospitality and tourism professionals of small and medium sized, as well as an analysis of their adjustments and investments made to host such guests will contribute to clarify further the present situation on this market. In this context, Switzerland where the subject of senior tourism perceived by tourism and hospitality actors has been much less studied represents an interesting destination to consider. The Case of Switzerland Switzerland has always been known internationally for its ski resorts. Thus, tourism activities have a long tradition in Switzerland. But the country is also well known for its cleanliness, its safety and its quietness, which allow it

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to be in an excellent position to be considered for holidays by senior citizens. This segment is even more attractive to the tourism and hospitality branches in Switzerland as tourism activities are very seasonal in that country; there being two high seasons, winter (January–March) and summer (June– September). This being the case, a higher number of senior customers whose holiday periods are more evenly spread over the year, could contribute to evening out these seasonal variations. Besides, taking into account the importance of domestic tourism in Switzerland, which generated 7.5 million tourist arrivals for a total of 13.8 million in 2002 (World Tourism Organisation, 2003), senior tourism is also important for Switzerland following the ageing of the Swiss population. According to the Swiss Federal Statistical Ofﬁce (2006), this population is expected to increase by 2% by 2040 to reach 7,431,000. Despite an increase in the total fertility rate from 1.42 in 2001 to 1.7 in 2040, the share of over 65 years old population will increase from 14.6% in 2001 to 25.7% in 2040, one of the highest in the world at that time (UN Population Division, 2007). This will be due to the increase of life expectancy at birth from 81 years old in 2001 to 85 years old in 2040, and to the fact that the total fertility rate has decreased quite severely from 2.2 in the late 1960s to 1.42 in 2001, one of the lowest in the world at the moment. Thus, it is not astonishing to ﬁnd in the consultative report undertaken on behalf of the Swiss Federal Authorities concerning the encouragement of tourism that changes in the tourism and hotel offer aimed at senior tourists could contribute to make the sector more competitive in Switzerland (Conseil Fe´de´ral, 2002). This last point becomes even more important when statistics show that Swiss tourism has been a victim of an unfavourable trend since the beginning of 1990, mainly due to external factors (strong national currency, strong competition from new far remote destinations etc.). The share of Switzerland in the world tourist arrivals has decreased from 8% in the 1950s to 1.6% in 2000 (Uwamungu & Nicod, 2003). This evolution has resulted in a reduction of the number of hotels in Switzerland from 6,900 in 1989 to 5,800 in 2003 (Swiss Tourism Federation, 2006). ‘Furthermore, most Swiss hotels represent independent, family type businesses, with an aging infrastructure. Individually, their efforts to survive in a globalising market are insufﬁcient, many small- and medium-sized independent hotels are often caught in a vicious cycle: shifting investments, falling proﬁts, and increasing debts’ (Gherissi Labben & Mungall, 2007, p. 48). In addition, these hotels are suffering from a low average occupation rate (40% in Switzerland) as well as from a low average size (more than 75%

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of Swiss hotels have 50 beds or less). However, that being said, the small hotel size might be considered as an attracting factor in the senior segment. Taking into account the importance of the senior clientele, and the favourable characteristics of Switzerland to attract this clientele, strategies to improve positioning in this market could help Swiss hoteliers to overcome the difﬁculties mentioned above. Now, are the Swiss hoteliers aware of this, and have they taken actions in order to attract these senior tourists? This paper tries to answer that question.

METHOD An exploratory survey was carried out based on an online questionnaire amongst Swiss hoteliers in order to measure their efforts and initiatives undertaken towards this clientele segment. This questionnaire is divided into the following parts: Part 1: Characteristics of the stay of senior customers in your hotel. Part 2: Speciﬁc arrangement made by your hotel for senior customers. Part 3: Your perception of the opportunities offered by the market segment comprising of senior customers. Part 4: Characteristics of your hotel. A representative sample of 1,030 hoteliers was randomly selected amongst the 2,000 members of Hotelleriesuisse, the Swiss national hotel association, who had an e-mail address. For the analysis, the replying hoteliers were divided into two groups according to the share of senior guests who are considered to be 55 years old or older tourists. Group A is composed of hotels for which senior clients represent a share of 25% or more. This percentage of 25% represents the average share of tourists in Switzerland belonging to the group 55 years or older. More precisely, 14% of such tourists in Switzerland are in the 55–64 years group, while 11% in the 64 years or older group (Bieger & Laesser, 2005). Group B is the group of hotels having less than 25% of senior clients. Then cross tables on the basis of these two hotel groups were elaborated to see the differences between them on the level of the different aspects comprising parts 2, 3 and 4. The analyses were based on the Chi-square signiﬁcance. In order to better understand and deepen the results of the survey, exploratory interviews were undertaken with certain actors in the tourism and hospitality industry having specialised knowledge in this market segment in Switzerland, managers from certain specialised residential homes

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and some senior tourists selected, thanks to two important associations representing senior citizens in Switzerland.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS The response rate was 11% (116 completed questionnaires returned) and, generally, the sample of the replying hoteliers was representative of the Swiss hotel sector. In terms of category, most respondents are active in the middlerange segment, mostly of 3-star category. The share of 5-star establishments amounts to around 5%, while the share of 1- and 2-star establishments is around 9%. Moreover, in terms of location, nearly half of the sample is located in mountain area, while a third in cities and a quarter in the countryside. Finally, nearly 80% of the sample represents independent establishments. Group A is composed of hoteliers for whom senior citizens represents 25% or more. They represent just less than half of the respondent sample. This group is made up of hotels signiﬁcantly active in the leisure market. From that, it is not surprising to ﬁnd a signiﬁcant share of them to be seasonal and located in the mountains and the countryside. In addition, a signiﬁcant share of these hotels mentioned a share of repeat senior customers higher than 25%, as well as a length of stay of senior guests of 4 days and more. Group B is composed of hoteliers for whom senior citizens represent less than 25% of their client base. They represent just a little more than half of the respondent sample. These hotels are signiﬁcantly active in the business market. From that, it is not astonishing to ﬁnd a signiﬁcant share of them to be open through the year and located in cities. In addition, a signiﬁcant share of these hotels mentioned a share of repeat senior customers less than 25%, as well as a length of stay of senior guests of less than 4 days. In addition, in terms of establishment categories, the share of 4-star hotels, as well as the share of 3-star establishments, is higher among the Group A. So, the growing importance of senior guests translated in terms of share of the clientele is already a reality for nearly half of the respondent. But have these hotels undertaken speciﬁc actions in order to attract such clients? Actions that have been Undertaken to Host Senior Citizen Guests In terms of what has been done by Swiss hoteliers, only 21% of the respondents admitted having proposed a speciﬁc offer aimed at the senior clients. These hoteliers are equally distributed between the two groups mentioned above (see Fig. 1), and they represent a minority in both groups.

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Fig. 1.

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Existence of Speciﬁc Arrangements Made for Senior Citizen Guests.

Besides, for nearly all of these hoteliers, the speciﬁc offer includes a special price. However, only half of them have mentioned a speciﬁc programme. That being said, a higher share of the respondents, a third of them, has mentioned the existence of a local tourism board programme aimed at this clientele. This opinion is much more shared among hoteliers of Group A representing half of them. In addition, only 4% of the respondents mentioned the existence of a continuous education programme aimed at improving the hotel service towards the senior clientele (see Fig. 2). The reason mostly put forward for not having such a programme is that it is considered as unnecessary. In terms of investments having been undertaken to improve the hotel product towards the senior customers, a higher share of respondents, nearly half of them, among which 60% belong to Group A, admitted having made such investments (see Fig. 3). These hoteliers actually represent a majority in Group A, while they are a minority in Group B. Generally speaking, these investments are not costly and concern is about the hotel rooms and the restaurant menus.

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Fig. 2.

ANDREW MUNGALL AND THOURAYA GHERISSI LABBEN

Existence of a Continuous Education Programme Undertaken for the Hotel Employees.

The obstacle to the investments in these hotels and to the adaptation of their product to senior customers seems to be linked to a question of public image: physical handicap due to age, customers not always familiar with technological progress, who require a lot of patience and create problems of cohabitation with other customers.

Potentiality of the Senior Citizen Segment Nevertheless, a great majority of hoteliers, three quarters of the respondents, recognise the potential of this senior segment. A little bit more than a half of them belong to Group A (see Fig. 4). Nearly all the members of this group, and also 60% of those of Group B, have shared that opinion. However, the possible actions, which might be considered in the future to attract the senior clientele, are mostly costless ones. Thus, 42% of the replying hoteliers, equally distributed between the two hotel groups, are

Hotel Offer Adjustments for Senior Citizen Guests

Fig. 3.

233

Investments Made for Senior Citizen Guests.

ready to participate in an ad hoc short formation course concerning how to look after senior customers. This share is higher among Group A where it amounts to nearly 50%. In terms of future possible investments, most of the respondents, 60% of them, have mentioned the provided services. These hoteliers are more or less equally distributed between the two groups, and they also represent the majority in both groups. Much less respondents, around 29%, have mentioned hotel infrastructure. Most of these hoteliers belong to Group A. Further, even less respondents (15%) have quoted investments on employee continuous education (see Table 1). Finally, 80% of the replying hoteliers, equally distributed between the two hotel groups, said that they were ready to collaborate with other hoteliers in organising a speciﬁc programme aimed at the senior clients in their region (see Fig. 5). Health (wellness), music and exhibitions were the most mentioned themes in this context (see Table 2).

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Fig. 4.

Table 1.

Potentiality of the Senior Citizen Segment.

Possible Investments to Attract Senior Citizen Guests (Number of Answers).

Types of Investment

Share of Senior Citizens among Hotel Clients Group B (25% or less)

Group A (more than 25%)

Total

Infrastructure Yes No Total

12 50 62

21 31 52

33 81 114

Available services Yes No Total

33 29 62

36 16 52

69 45 114

Training of employees Yes No Total

9 53 62

8 44 52

17 97 114

Hotel Offer Adjustments for Senior Citizen Guests

Fig. 5.

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Hotel Collaboration to Develop Speciﬁc Programme for Senior Citizen Guests.

Conclusions Generally speaking, based on the above results, it can be said that the actors of the Swiss tourism and hotel industries recognise the growing percentage of senior citizens in the total population. However, this market segment has not been the target of adequate speciﬁc measures from the actors in the tourism and hospitality industries (marketing, development of new offers adapted to their needs, communication etc.). This group of customers has been the victim of negative stereotypes related to the ageing process (sickness, weakness, loneliness); this clientele has not been given the attention it deserves on the part of the actors in the tourism and hospitality industries. In an edition of the magazine ‘Enjeux-Les Echos’ (2002), it is mentioned that actors in the tourism industry are wrong in considering that senior citizens represent a sort of dumping ground for coach tours.

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Table 2. Possible Themes for a Speciﬁc Programme for Senior Citizen Guests to be Developed through Hotel Collaboration (Number of Answers). Theme of the CollaborativeSpeciﬁc Programme

Share of Senior Citizens among Hotel Clients Group B (25% or less)

Group A (more than 25%)

Total

Music Yes No Total

26 36 62

26 26 52

52 62 114

Exhibitions Yes No Total

30 32 62

12 40 52

42 72 114

Conferences Yes No Total

5 57 62

2 50 52

7 107 114

Personal development Yes No Total

12 50 62

9 43 52

21 93 114

Health/wellness Yes No Total

22 40 62

32 20 52

54 60 114

Besides, according to the different interviews, the senior tourists have not had the opportunity of making its needs known. So it is difﬁcult to know what kind of products and services can be developed in order to satisfy the speciﬁc needs of this clientele. Moreover, the Swiss citizens interviewed have expressed the following expectations and needs regarding the supply in the Swiss tourism and hospitality sector: Quest for clear and complete information. Need for reassurance during their holiday stay (central geographical location, sufﬁcient light, cleanliness, safe deposit box in the hotel room, contact person in case of emergency). Importance of human contact.

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Need to be looked after in a more personalised way, but not in an explicit manner. Request for a personal holiday experience at a given price, but generally the experience has not so far been totally satisfactory. The results of this survey show that the Swiss hoteliers recognise to a signiﬁcant extent the importance given by the senior tourists to the security and human relations factors. However, they are unanimous in rebutting a lack of personalisation in their service towards the senior clients and an unsatisfactory quality–price ratio.

CONCLUSION The present situation of senior tourism in Switzerland shown by this study is that the senior segment is recognised by the hoteliers as being potentially proﬁtable. However, a less than ﬂattering image of this customer category seem to predominate in the minds of a great number of hoteliers, dissuading them from concentrating more resources on adapting their products and services to this customer segment. This bad image (serious physical handicaps, problems in cohabitation with other clients) deserves to be corrected and, to this end, a campaign of information appears necessary, especially emanating from the concerned associations in the sector. Further, the investments undertaken by Swiss hoteliers up to now towards the senior segment have been inexpensive. These investments have covered adjustments with minimal cost to the hotel rooms and the restaurant menus. A particular attention should be given to these adjustments, taking into account the wish of senior tourists for a personalised service. In the same way, the investments concerning adapting technological progress should be associated with personnel support, which implies completing the formation of the hotel personnel, whereas only a few hoteliers presently have such a continuous formation programme. Finally, the hoteliers should devote more efforts towards enriching the holiday experience of the senior tourists. However, very few of them seem to be interested in making this happen. Thus, the special offers aimed at this customer segment have only consisted so far in special tariffs. In future, collaboration between hoteliers could eventually contribute in encouraging the creation of speciﬁc programmes, especially in the areas of wellness, music and exhibitions.

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Even if the investments concerning the adaptation of the hotel rooms have been put forward in the above-mentioned study as being indispensable to satisfy the demands of the senior customer, synonymous with the idea of personalising hotel product and services, very few have been concerned with the ergonomic aspects of the ‘design for ageing’. However, these latter aspects have now begun to be the subject of studies in the United States and in North Europe. If this study has shown the ambiguity and the difﬁculty of targeting senior customers through an advertising campaign for example, it has only partially covered the aspects of communication and marketing aimed at senior customers. Thus, these elements could be the subject of future research developments i.e., a more detailed analysis of the ergonomic aspects of ‘design for ageing’ and adaptation of the communication and marketing tools aimed at the senior customers. Further, work could be done on publishing a guide for hoteliers. This guide could mention the criteria to be respected in order to satisfy the demands of the senior customers. Finally, in order to complete this guide, it could be also useful to identify the parameters to be included in a programme of continuous education aimed at the personnel of the interested hotels. Finally, the time constraint should be taken into account here. Solutions to these different aspects must be quickly put into place in order to allow the professionals of the Swiss tourism and hospitality sector to beneﬁt from the senior tourism. The share of repeat customers being higher than the average for the senior clientele, the ﬁrst actors having succeeded in adapting its offer, and in optimising its communication and marketing strategies, for the senior customers will probably have a competitive advantage on their competitors on this market.

REFERENCES Bieger, T., & Laesser, C. (2005). Travel market Switzerland 2004: Basic report and database speciﬁcation. St. Gallen, Switzerland: Institut fu¨r O¨ffentliche Dienstleistungen und Tourismus. Burt, S., & Gabbot, M. (1995). The elderly consumer and non-food purchase behaviour. European Journal of Marketing, 29(2), 15–43. Callan, R. J., & Bowman, L. (2000). Selecting a hotel and determining salient quality attributes: A preliminary study of mature British travellers. International Journal of Tourism Research, 2(2), 99–118.

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Carrigan, M. (1998). Segmenting the grey market: The case for ﬁfty-plus ‘‘life groups’’. Journal of Marketing Practice: Applied Marketing Science, 4(2), 43–56. Chief Leisure Ofﬁcers Association. (1996). Leisure life: A local authority code of practice for effective provision of leisure to older people. London: Age Concern. Conseil Fe´de´ral. (2002). L’encouragement du tourisme de la Confe´de´ration: Ame´liorer la structure et la qualite´ de l’offre. Concept et programme 2003–2007, rapport en exe´cution de la motion de la CER-CN 99.3569 du 9 janvier. Doka, K. J. (1992). When grey is golden: Business in an aging America. The Futurist, 26(4), 16–21. Enjeux-Les Echos. (2002). Bienvenue dans un monde de vieux. Nume´ro spe´cial De´mographie, 182, juillet-aouˆt. Fleischer, A., & Pizam, A. (2002). Tourism constraints among Israeli seniors. Annals of Tourism Research, 29(1), 106–123. Gherissi Labben, T., & Mungall, A. (2007). The Intensity of collaboration and type of management on the performance of Swiss hotels. Advances in Hospitality and Leisure, 3, 45–60. Lieux, E. M., Weaver, P. A., & McCleary, K. W. (1994). Lodging preferences of the senior tourism market. Annals of Tourism Research, 21(4), 712–728. Marvel, M. (1999). Competing in hotel services for seniors. Hospitality Management, 18, 235–243. Mathur, A., Sherman, E., & Schiffman, L. G. (1998). Opportunities for marketing travel services to new-age elderly. The Journal of Services Marketing, 12(4), 265–277. Mazur, L. (1993). Golden Oldies. Marketing Business, February. Shoemaker, S. (1989). Segmentation of the senior pleasure travel market. Journal of Travel Research, 27(3), 14–21. Swiss Federal Statistical Ofﬁce. (2006). Annuaire statistique de la Suisse. Neuchaˆtel, Switzerland: Swiss Federal Statistical Ofﬁce. Swiss Tourism Federation. (2006). Swiss tourism in ﬁgures. Bern, Switzerland: Swiss Tourism Federation. UN Population Division. (2007). Department of Economics and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat. World Population Prospects: The 2006 Revision and World Urbanization Prospects: The 2005 Revision. New York: United Nations. Uwamungu, B., & Nicod, P. (2003). Cre´ativite´ et innovation dans l’hoˆtellerie suisse. Actes de colloque de la journe´e de la cre´ativite´ dans le tourisme (pp. 21–27). Sierre, Switzerland: Haute e´cole valaisanne. Vincent, V. C., & de Los Santos, G. (1990). Winter Texans: Two segments of the senior travel market. Journal of Travel Research, 29(1), 9–12. Wei, S., Ruys, H., & Muller, T. E. (1999). A gap analysis of perceptions of hotel attributes by marketing managers and older people in Australia. Journal of Marketing Practice: Applied Marketing Science, 5(6/7/8), 200–212. World Tourism Organisation. (2003). World tourism barometer. Madrid, Spain: World Tourism Organisation.

SUBJECT INDEX Agency problem, 125–126, 128–129, 138 Australia, 111, 122, 154, 163–164, 166–167, 171, 227 Authenticity, 3, 9, 11, 13–20, 213

Leisure constraint, 26, 28–29, 31–33, 35, 38, 42, 44–46 Life satisfaction, 25–35, 37, 39–45, 47 Majorca, 185–193, 195–202 Medical facilities, 109, 114, 116–120, 122

Best practices, 89, 91, 93, 95–99, 101–103, 105

Nature-based tourism, 9, 11, 19 Cairns, 163–164, 171–177, 179–181 Career paths, 55–56, 61, 63, 65 CHAID, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11–13, 15, 17–19 Communication, 27, 95, 97, 109–110, 114, 116–120, 129–130, 235, 238 Coping mechanisms, 69, 71–73, 77–84 Corporate governance, 125–129, 131–133, 135, 137–138

Occupational behavior, 142, 144, 148 Recreation conﬂict, 69 Recruitment strategy, 153 Rental car, 185–190, 192–193, 196–201 Restaurant selection factors, 207, 214–215, 218–219 Retention strategy, 153

Day trips, 195–197, 201–202 Dining experience, 170, 207–209, 211–221

Senior citizen, 223–237 Segment, 3, 6–7, 11–13, 17–18, 70, 76, 112, 114–116, 168, 172–173, 180–181, 186, 211, 223, 225, 228–230, 232, 234–235, 237 Servicescape, 207, 211, 213–221 Singapore, 109–121 Sustainability, 3, 8–11, 13–16, 18–20, 89–93, 95–97, 99, 101, 103, 105 Sustainable management, 89, 97–99

Economic impacts, 192 Food, 4, 36–37, 40–41, 45, 92, 95–96, 102, 105, 121, 163–167, 169–181, 207, 209, 211–221, 226 Health tourism, 109, 111, 113, 115, 121 Hospitality education, 156 Hotel products, 231, 238

Thai labor, 25–26, 31, 33–35, 37 Turnover intentions, 52–53, 63, 65

Importance-performance analysis, 207, 209–210, 215–216 Interpretative research, 53–54

Water-based activities, 69, 75–77, 79–83 Wine, 163–181 Work values, 141–158

Job and industry characteristics, 65 241