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1 – 10 of 690Ali B. Mahmoud, Leonora Fuxman, Yousra Asaad and Konstantinos Solakis
The Metaverse is rapidly reshaping the understanding of tourism, yet the public perception of this new domain remains largely uncharted empirically. This paper aims to build on…
Abstract
Purpose
The Metaverse is rapidly reshaping the understanding of tourism, yet the public perception of this new domain remains largely uncharted empirically. This paper aims to build on the technology acceptance model (TAM) and diffusion of innovations theory (DIT) to fill this gap, offering crucial insights that could inform scholars and practitioners in both the tourism and technology sectors.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a big-data approach, the authors applied machine learning to scrape comments made by social media users on recent popular posts or videos related to tourism in the Metaverse from three prominent social media platforms. The cleaning process narrowed down 15,461 comments to 2,650, which were then analysed using thematic, emotion and sentiment analysis techniques.
Findings
The thematic analysis revealed that virtual tourism evokes a complex range of public beliefs. While many express awe and excitement toward its immersive capabilities, others remain sceptical about authenticity compared to physical travel. Additional themes show people draw comparisons to real-world tourism, discuss technology’s role and note educational value and novelty. However, some comments raise concerns about potential societal harms, exploitation and mental health impacts. Sentiment analysis found over half of the comments positive, though some were negative. Emotion analysis showed contentment, happiness and excitement as most frequent, though sadness, worry and loneliness also featured. Overall, perceptions of Metaverse tourism encompass enthusiasm yet substantial ambivalence.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to comprehensively analyse public discussions on Metaverse tourism. It takes TAM and Rogers’s DIT a step further and provides fresh insights into how these theories can be employed in the emerging field of Metaverse tourism. The themes revealed new conceptual insights into multidimensional factors shaping public beliefs about Metaverse tourism and thus informing scholarly research on virtual interaction and technology acceptance regarding Metaverse tourism. In addition, the results can help tourism providers, platforms and marketers address salient public beliefs and sentiments/attitudes in developing marketing offerings, experiences and communications. Over time, this analysis methodology can be used to track the evolving public perceptions of Metaverse tourism.
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Olusoyi Richard Ashaye, Ali B. Mahmoud, Afzal Sayed Munna and Nurhanisah Ali
This paper focusses on demonstrating the role of social media engagement and considering emotional intelligence (hereafter EI) as a critical concept to successful employment…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper focusses on demonstrating the role of social media engagement and considering emotional intelligence (hereafter EI) as a critical concept to successful employment, mainly when individuals fail to reach the desired employment despite “meeting” the role requirements.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors adopted a qualitative approach through semi-structured in-depth interviews of some randomly selected university students in the UK, young adults aged 19–32. The participants were selected based on different demographics to provide a broader and less biased representation of young adults in the UK.
Findings
This research suggests that recruitment organisations should introduce the latest requirements and trends of employers to ensure that the expectations of employers and potential candidates are aligned to improve the employment rate in young adults.
Originality/value
This research extends the literature regarding EI in social media engagement and successful employment. It also brings new perspectives on successful employment in young adults by demonstrating the role of social media engagement and EI traits leading to a conceptual framework exploring successful employment based on the role of social media engagement and EI.
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Iris Mohr, Leonora Fuxman and Ali B. Mahmoud
This article critically synthesizes the literature on sustainable fashion, the movement behind it and plausible fashion adoption theories. Then, to build on those studies…
Abstract
Purpose
This article critically synthesizes the literature on sustainable fashion, the movement behind it and plausible fashion adoption theories. Then, to build on those studies, developing a new theory about adopting sustainable fashion – mainly among millennials and Generation Z who are behind forwarding and adopting this fashion trend – is sought after.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a theory-synthesized conceptual article that presents a literature-informed new theoretical structure pronouncing sustainable fashion adoption and its rise as a new luxury trend. That included explicating and unraveling the conceptual foundations and construction elements that different viewpoints use to articulate the trend under investigation and the searches for a common basis to construct a new and improved conceptual framework.
Findings
This study introduces the triple-trickle theory that incorporates the role of media and technology to organize and understand the diffusion of sustainable fashion and identify paths for future trickle-effects on fashion research.
Research limitations/implications
Even though this has the benefit of offering a vast array of views and evidence that offers an adequate problem inspection, further studies providing empirical evidence are needed to establish the external validity of the theory derived from this research.
Practical implications
This theory can be applied to develop targeted practices to understand the diffusion and adoption of sustainable fashion and further practitioners’ understanding of product positioning, target marketing, marketing strategy and luxury opportunities in general.
Originality/value
Though interest in sustainable fashion has increased among consumers, no theory or model exists to explain its adoption. Therefore, the triple-trickle theory is proposed and aimed to be a more relevant framework to offer a theoretical premise for future empirical investigations of sustainable fashion adoption.
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Ali B. Mahmoud, Leonora Fuxman, Iris Mohr, William D. Reisel and Nicholas Grigoriou
The primary purpose of this research is to examine generational differences in valuing the sources of employees' overall motivation in the workplace across Generation X…
Abstract
Purpose
The primary purpose of this research is to examine generational differences in valuing the sources of employees' overall motivation in the workplace across Generation X, Generation Y and Generation Z with a view of assisting managers in making employment decisions and maintaining multigenerational staff.
Design/methodology/approach
The respondents in the study live and work in Canada and provided answers to self-administered online surveys between the fourth quarter of 2017 and the end of January 2020. To assess subjects' work motivation, the study employed Gagné et al.'s (2014) multidimensional work motivation scale (MWMS) alongside a three-item measure of employees' overall motivation (designed for this study). The authors assessed measures of validity and reliability and tested the hypothesis about generational differences in work motivation using structural equation modelling (SEM).
Findings
The six motivators regress differently to employees' overall motivation. Generation Z is more sensitive to amotivation than Generation X and Generation Y. Extrinsic regulation-material is a valid source of overall work motivation for Generation Z only. Only Generation X values extrinsic regulation-social as a source of employees' overall motivation. So is introjected regulation by Generation Y. Unlike Generation Z, both Generation X and Generation Y employees value identified regulation as a source of overall work motivation. Finally, intrinsic motivation contributes more to Generation Z employees' overall work motivation than it does for Generation X and Generation Y.
Research limitations/implications
Further work needs to be done to establish whether variations in valuing the sources of motivation may also be spawned by age or status of the respective groups. Future investigations can expand the authors’ focal theme to include additional organisational outcomes, alternative geographical settings and/or include country's economic development as an additional variable. Moreover, further research can address the implications of national culture on shaping generational differences in employee's motivation as well as aiding companies to redesign work tasks considering today's uncertainty as well as increasingly competitive, global environment (e.g. the rise of artificial intelligence).
Practical implications
It is vital to offer motivators that are valued by each of the three generations, i.e. X, Y and Z, before being able to attract the best candidates of each generation. Organisations should not only create an inclusive and understanding multigenerational working environment but also be able to communicate strong branding via new communication channels successfully (e.g. social media networks), which Generation Yers and Generation Zers utilise better than any other generation in employment. Finally, the authors suggest that service organisations with diverse generational composition should adopt new measures of workplace agility to survive interminable disruptions (e.g. the coronavirus disease 2019 [COVID-19] pandemic).
Originality/value
This is the first study of its kind to examine generational differences between Generation X, Generation Y and Generation Z in valuing workplace motivation from a western cultural perspective.
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Seong-Yuen Toh, Shehnaz Tehseen, Ali B. Mahmoud, Jason Cheok, Nicholas Grigoriou and John Opute
This study highlights the instrumental role of the mission statement as a tool used by managers to shape value congruence to achieve enhanced employee performance levels.
Abstract
Purpose
This study highlights the instrumental role of the mission statement as a tool used by managers to shape value congruence to achieve enhanced employee performance levels.
Design/methodology/approach
A variance-based structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data obtained from a sample of 123 managers working in private organisations in Malaysia.
Findings
The management sensemaking approach is useful in mission statement research. Managers' involvement in clarifying the mission statement to various firm stakeholders, especially employees, is the strongest predictor of value congruency between employees and the firm, leading to improved levels of employee behavioural performance. Managers can influence value congruency through two processes: (1) guiding and shaping employees' values and (2) adapting the mission statement's contents.
Research limitations/implications
Future studies can consider the impact of managerial role modelling on employees' value alignment with the firm in longitudinal studies. Other aspects of alignment offer further research opportunities, for example, HR policy alignment and alignment of marketing and operation strategies with the mission statement.
Practical implications
Managers should move beyond treating the mission statement as a management tool. Instead, it is a firm philosophy that reflects managers' words and deeds and exemplifies their philosophical ideals.
Originality/value
Despite three decades of research into the relationship between the mission statement and performance, the results have been mixed. Therefore, this study adopts a sensemaking approach to research the mission-performance relationship underpinned by the resource-based view (RBV) theory.
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Konstantinos Solakis, Vicky Katsoni, Ali B. Mahmoud and Nicholas Grigoriou
This is a general review study aiming to specify the key customer-based factors and technologies that influence the value co-creation (VCC) process through artificial intelligence…
Abstract
Purpose
This is a general review study aiming to specify the key customer-based factors and technologies that influence the value co-creation (VCC) process through artificial intelligence (AI) and automation in the hospitality and tourism industry.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses a theory-based general literature review approach to explore key customer-based factors and technologies influencing VCC in the tourism industry. By reviewing the relevant literature, the authors conclude a theoretical framework postulating the determinants of VCC in the AI-driven tourism industry.
Findings
This paper identifies customers' perceptions, attitudes, trust, social influence, hedonic motivations, anthropomorphism and prior experience as customer-based factors to VCC through the use of AI. Service robots, AI-enabled self-service kiosks, chatbots, metaversal tourism and new reality, machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP) are technologies that influence VCC.
Research limitations/implications
The results of this research inform a theoretical framework articulating the human and AI elements for future research set to expand the models predicting VCC in the tourism industry.
Originality/value
Few studies have examined consumer-related factors that influence their participation in the VCC process through automation and AI.
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Tahira Javed, Ali B. Mahmoud, Jun Yang and Xu Zhao
This study aims to investigate the ecological awareness of Chinese consumers towards fast fashion and examine the effect of social sustainability claims on green brand image and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the ecological awareness of Chinese consumers towards fast fashion and examine the effect of social sustainability claims on green brand image and purchase intentions in China, considering China’s unique environmental policy landscape and its significant role in the global fast fashion industry. The study explores the role of altruistic values in promoting sustainability within the well-known fast fashion brand “H” and how they shape brand image, consumer satisfaction and brand equity.
Design/methodology/approach
The study collected data from 257 Chinese participants and used a serial mediation model through the PROCESS macro in SPSS to analyse the correlation between green brand image, created through sustainability claims and consumer purchase intentions. The model also assessed the intermediary effects of brand image, satisfaction and equity.
Findings
The findings of the research indicate a direct and positive relationship between green brand image and consumer purchase intentions, emphasising the need for clothing and textile industry marketers to strategically promote altruistic values in their sustainability efforts and highlighting the importance of ecological awareness in shaping consumer behaviour in the Chinese context. This approach enhances green satisfaction and green brand equity and ultimately leads to higher green purchase intentions.
Originality/value
This study provides significant insights into the effectiveness of incorporating social sustainability claims in advertising to improve a brand’s green image and influence consumer behaviour. It emphasises the importance of altruistic values in sustainability strategies, offering valuable guidelines for marketers in enhancing green satisfaction and brand equity, thereby boosting consumer purchase intentions in the context of green branding and sustainability advertising. Focussing specifically on the Chinese market, this research sheds light on the impact of ecological awareness among Chinese consumers within the fast-fashion industry. Given China’s substantial role in shaping global fast-fashion production and its evolving environmental policies, this focus adds significant depth to our understanding of sustainability claims’ influence within this crucial consumer base.
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John Ebinum Opute and Ali B. Mahmoud
Nigeria is experiencing an expanding variety of what is termed collective bargaining, which is being propelled by socio-economic challenges and the emerging political dispensation…
Abstract
Purpose
Nigeria is experiencing an expanding variety of what is termed collective bargaining, which is being propelled by socio-economic challenges and the emerging political dispensation that had long eluded the country, albeit the numerous contours needing some pragmatic approaches from the state, employers of labour and the trade unions at the local and national levels. Therefore, this study represents an attempt to illustrate the rising collective bargaining pattern in Nigeria.
Design/methodology/approach
This study drew on employee and employer sectoral associations examples together with labour union structures of the state to assess what underlined collective bargaining developments from the broad context of collective bargaining and the industrial relations implications. Content analysis was employed to analyse the secondary data (found in relevant company handbooks, policies, collective agreements, etc.) and primary data obtained through unstructured interviews.
Findings
A form of collective bargaining is emerging where the trade unions are embracing symbiotic agreements at plant levels to improve conditions of employment and thus weakening the hold of the national union from collective bargaining – a move that may challenge the conceptual framework of collective bargaining as conceived by many states in developing economies.
Originality/value
This is an investigative paper, carefully trailing the framework of collective bargaining from direct contacts with all stakeholders in the labour corridors of Nigeria – such as the Nigeria Labour Congress, Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, Chemical and Non-Metallic Products Employer's Federation, Metal Products Workers Union of Nigeria and Personnel Practitioners, cutting across all the segments of the political and economic development of the country.
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