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The purpose of this paper is to analyze three different forms of benefit systems and the effects of their application on Spanish firms’ attraction and retention capacity, differentiating these systems depending on the flexibility offered to the workers.

The data of this study have been collected from a sample of 308 human resources managers in Spanish firms, through an online questionnaire. The hypotheses were tested by ordinary least squares regression analyses.

The results show that firms having more flexible compensation systems, that is, those providing greater freedom to workers in the election of their benefits and the design of the benefit system, reported to have a higher attraction and retention capacity than firms offering to their employees a unique and similar benefit package for all the employees.

Future studies could extent this study by analyzing different contexts in order to determine whether some institutional factors can influence these results. Similarly, it would be interesting to analyze the effects of these systems on other organizational outcomes, such as their financial performance.

Human resources policies and, especially, compensation policies have a significant influence on the ability of firms to recruit and retain core employees, necessary for corporate success. This study sheds light on the effectiveness of different benefits systems in enhancing the firms’ capacities to attract and retain core employees. Taking into account the hard financial and labor environment that the Spanish firms have to face, the results of this study can have important implications for managers.

This paper responds to recent calls asking for the necessity of analyzing the effect of different benefit systems in contexts different to the broadly considered American context. Similarly, these results could be applied to other countries with conditions similar to Spain, that is, countries where the benefit systems have been traditionally less flexible and with an offer of benefits quite different than firms located in countries where the State offers a less-social assistance to citizens.

This paper aims to analyze how a biophilic atmosphere inspired by nature influences customers’ affective states and intention to visit shopping centers, and to empirically test how affective states affect and mediate the relationship between the nature-based atmosphere and behavior or intention to visit.

Four hypotheses are examined empirically through a model of structural equations using control variables. A survey of 403 consumers distributed in 24 large shopping centers was used.

The findings indicate the influence of the biophilic atmosphere on affective states and the intention to visit. Also, it is shown that affective states mediate in this relationship and effect.

The research suggests that shopping centers are potentially places to take advantage of people’s natural predisposition. Thus, they can combine biophilic architecture and atmosphere with other more traditional factors of attraction to increase the likelihood of visiting. A biophilic atmosphere can improve the attraction capacity within a highly competitive environment, where design and management of space is a topic of special value.

By incorporating the perception of the biophilic atmosphere in consumer evaluations when visiting shopping centers, this research has shown its influence on visiting intentions through affective states. The research proposes an alternative model that can increase and stimulate the attraction of demand and loyalty, as well as strengthening new paths in the field of retail and services marketing.

Generally, tourism is perceived as an economic-driving force that contributes to accelerate the processes of economic and social development. On the other hand it creates pressure and transforms the environment (both urban and natural), especially when the transformation is fast. Several studies analyze in depth the role of tourism in the development of the destinations. The effects are different and also depend on where the pressure manifests. In cities, in addition to the risk of overcoming the carrying capacity in social and environmental terms, tourism brings the loss of identity. This is even more true in proximity of economic shocks, where the sudden reduction in tourist flows and the need to contain costs for businesses are risks for the sustainability of the tourist destination. In this sense, the case of Sicily is emblematic. This Italian region in recent years has grown in international tourist flows, with a growing appreciation for its natural and cultural elements. The purpose of this chapter is therefore to describe the behaviour of the main urban tourism destinations in Sicily with respect to the economic shock that occurred in Italy in 2008, through a quantitative analysis that thus highlights the resilience of the cities to changes in the relative tourist flows.

Towns and cities across Canada face rapidly changing economic circumstances and many are turning to a variety of strategies, including tourism, to provide stability in their communities. Community Economic Development (CED) has become an accepted form of economic development, with recognition that such planning benefits from a more holistic approach and community participation. However, much of why particular strategies are chosen, what process the community undertakes to implement those choices and how success is measured is not fully understood. Furthermore, CED lacks a developed theoretical basis from which to examine these questions. By investigating communities that have chosen to develop their tourism potential through the use of murals, these various themes can be explored. There are three purposes to this research: (1) to acquire an understanding of the “how” and the “why” behind the adoption and diffusion of mural-based tourism as a CED strategy in rural communities; (2) to contribute to the emerging theory of CED by linking together theories of rural geography, rural change and sustainability, and rural tourism; and (3) to contribute to the development of a framework for evaluating the potential and success of tourism development within a CED process.

Two levels of data collection and analysis were employed in this research. Initially, a survey of Canadian provincial tourism guides was conducted to determine the number of communities in Canada that market themselves as having a mural-based tourism attraction (N=32). A survey was sent to these communities, resulting in 31 responses suitable for descriptive statistical analysis, using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). A case study analysis of the 6 Saskatchewan communities was conducted through in-depth, in person interviews with 40 participants. These interviews were subsequently analyzed utilizing a combined Grounded Theory (GT) and Content Analysis approach.

The surveys indicated that mural development spread within a relatively short time period across Canada from Chemainus, British Columbia. Although tourism is often the reason behind mural development, increasing community spirit and beautification were also cited. This research demonstrates that the reasons this choice is made and the successful outcome of that choice is often dependent upon factors related to community size, proximity to larger populations and the economic (re)stability of existing industry. Analysis also determined that theories of institutional thickness, governance, embeddedness and conceptualizations of leadership provide a body of literature that offers an opportunity to theorize the process and outcomes of CED in rural places while at the same time aiding our understanding of the relationship between tourism and its possible contribution to rural sustainability within a Canadian context. Finally, this research revealed that both the CED process undertaken and the measurement of success are dependent upon the desired outcomes of mural development. Furthermore, particular attributes of rural places play a critical role in how CED is understood, defined and carried out, and how successes, both tangible and intangible, are measured.

This research seeks to understand whether employer branding (EB) and internal marketing (IM) are fundamental to the challenge of attracting and retaining talent and how these strategies can help companies to overcome the difficulties related to the talent shortage, from the perspective of a SME Portuguese metallurgical industry.

The research resorts to a case study of a qualitative nature, through a semi-structured interview with the head of the human resources (HR) training and development area of the Navarra Group, and quantitative, through surveys to its employees. Based on the literature, a conceptual model was constructed, whose application allowed us to perceive the relationships between the practices of EB and IM; satisfaction, motivation and commitment; attraction and retention.

The exploratory interview concluded that organizations consider EB and IM essential for an effective talent management strategy. The quantitative results demonstrate that IM and EB practices implemented in the organization contribute to the satisfaction, motivation and involvement of employees, which results in a decrease in the intention to leave. It is also noted that these practices promote an increase in the perception of organizational attractiveness, which represents a positive impact on its ability to attract.

From a theoretical perspective, the research contributes to the development of knowledge about IM, EB and talent management, providing relevant data that can help define the best strategies for attraction and retention, from the point of view of IM and EB.

The research presents preliminary insights that can be an auxiliary tool for HR managers and professionals in the context of industrial SMEs.

This study examined the waiting times to board an attraction at a theme park (Tokyo DisneySea in Japan) using a simulation based on measured values. Park visitors often complain that waiting times are too long; guests (Disney's term for park visitors) must stand in long, slow-moving queues outdoors in all weather, enduring heat, cold, rain and wind. This can undermine their health and reduce customer satisfaction. To date, no research has offered a scientific approach to solve the problem in the context of theme park queues.

The attraction examined two queues: a short waiting queue for guests with priority entry tickets and a long waiting queue for guests without priority entry tickets. The total number of guests with priority entry tickets remained a constant value, as in the current system; however, the author designed the number as a monotonically increasing function to reduce the waiting times for nonpriority entry. It was impractical to analyze queues or try to explain proposed wait time reduction methods using theories and mathematical models alone. Therefore, the author used a simulation study based on real data to demonstrate the proposed method of this study.

The simulation results indicated that the proposed method significantly decreased guests' waiting times in the nonpriority entry queue, without changing the number of guests in both priority and nonpriority entry queues.

Simple queues can be analyzed using theoretical calculations, but complicated queue systems require simulation methods. Therefore, this paper cannot provide a theoretical basis for the method.

The proposed method offers benefits to managers of any event or location seeking to manage queue times and not just theme parks (e.g. exhibitions, concerts, etc.). Advance tickets are equivalent to priority entry tickets, so applying the proposed method can shorten waiting times on the day of the event.

This study has important practical implications for queues management, and the proposed approach is a unique system that reduces waiting times, thus increasing customer satisfaction. The proposed method can be applied to similar types of priority entry systems.

This paper aims to provide a theoretical frame and practical experience for understanding and improving knowledge creation in the RIC. This paper proved through an empirical study that knowledge transfer, knowledge assimilation and knowledge sharing between firms in a resource-based industry chain (RIC) have positive influence on knowledge creation.

A theoretical model covering knowledge transfer, knowledge assimilation, knowledge sharing and knowledge creation is established in this paper. The research object is the phosphorus chemical industry chain in central Guizhou.

The findings of this paper provide a theoretical frame and practical experience for understanding and improving knowledge creation in the RIC.

The subjective measures of knowledge capacities present a serious limitation. Another limitation is that the authors examined knowledge creation within the context of RIC. The cross-sectional design prevented the authors from studying causal relationships among the variables.

First, it contributes to the knowledge creation of inter-organization literature. Second, it contributes to the studies of knowledge creation in supply chains. Third, this study demonstrates the importance of investigating the strong network embeddedness and industry property of RIC, which have a critic effect on the capabilities of knowledge sharing, transfer and assimilation.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the touristic potential of music festivals in Catalonia. It is an opportune goal because even though this region is experiencing an important increase of new festivals and cultural events, there is a lack of adequate coordinating and guiding tourism policies.

The data was gathered with a survey to managers of music festivals that provided information about their management structure and economic results. The study findings are the result of an analysis done with a statistical multivariate technique and constructing indicators of event economic feasibility and tourism specialisation.

Data reveals the coexistence of two different types of festivals in Catalonia depending on their cultural or touristic orientation and with clear differences in their management style. Both types have a professionalized management structure and an economic self‐sufficiency when compared with the rest of Catalan cultural events, so they can be considered as an asset for regional tourism development. Nevertheless, some problems are detected in management practices that should be improved when implementing a specific tourism event policy.

The research has built a unique event data base that can be useful for decision making in tourism public administration. The paper suggests that local and regional administration should consider music festivals and cultural events, in general, as excellent resources to create new tourism products. Some of the characteristics of festivals, such as their important potential as tourism attractions and their cultural identity or the economical success, are critical assets to their high potential in local tourism development. These findings should justify a more resolute public policy of events and music festivals in Catalonia.

Late spring, early summer 2020, theme parks across the World started to publish their plans for reopening. In this regard, this chapter ventures into critical questions like what did theme parks learn from the first ‘reopening’? What worked and what has changed? Have or will visitors return? Drafted as an exploratory paper this chapter brings forth the strategies adopted by the theme parks in the quest to return to the normal.