Learning from press releases: implications for hospitality innovation

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to test the usefulness of the literature-based innovation output (LBIO) approach to identify innovation types from press releases of hospitality firms and to evaluate if the typology captures the effect of innovation on firm value.

Design/methodology/approach

The LBIO approach was applied to three years of press releases from two publicly traded lodging firms in the USA announcing innovations. A database of lodging and innovation relevant terms was compiled. Starting with classifications found in the innovation literature, the researchers coded each announcement. Coded announcements were clustered into innovation types using pairwise similarity analysis. Event study analysis assessed the efficacy of the overall method to find types that were useful to measure the impact on firm value from the company’s adoption of an innovation.

Findings

Cluster analysis identified four lodging innovation types: property and location, marketing, strategic development and guest experiences. These types corresponded closely with the innovation classification suggested by the Oslo Manual. The event study found that the typology was useful in determining the market value effects of an innovation.

Research limitations/implications

This study focused on innovation; future studies might test other organizational factors. The study uses data from two large, publicly traded hospitality firms and may not extend to smaller, privately held businesses. A key implication is that human coding is sufficient to identify innovation types that correspond closely with existing classifications and affect firm value.

Originality value

This study successful learns from hospitality press releases to identify a hospitality innovation typology and tests type impact on firm value.

Citation

Zach, F.J., Krizaj, D. and McTier, B. (2018), "Learning from press releases: implications for hospitality innovation", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 30 No. 1, pp. 95-113. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-04-2016-0218