Search results

Beer style consumers identify themselves more with a beer style, craft or national, rather than with brands. Tribal brand researchers have suggested that beer style consumers feel an intense sense of belonging to a beer style tribe, which may not lead to loyalty to their beer style. The purpose of this paper is to test whether public commitment to defend or spread positive word-of-mouth (WoM) about their beer style influences the development of loyalty among beer style consumers toward their beer style.

The authors surveyed 400 beer style consumers and used the structural equation modeling approach to examine the loyalty relationships between beer style consumers and their beer style. The authors followed Oliver’s cognitive-affective-conative loyalty framework to test these relationships. Then, the authors tested whether a verbal commitment to defend or spread positive WoM about their beer style strengthens loyalty between beer style consumers and their beer style.

Satisfaction of beer style consumers toward their beer style does not lead them to be willing to pay a premium price for their beer style. However, by including a public commitment to defend or spread positive WoM about their beer style, beer style consumers are more willing to pay a premium price for their beer style even in the presence of an intense sense of belonging to a beer style tribe.

Soliciting public commitment influences the development of loyalty among tribal consumers, which may also influence nontribal consumers. In addition, the inclusion of public commitment to Oliver’s loyalty framework, i.e., cognitive-affective-public commitment-conative, extends the use of Oliver’s model to consumer tribes. Finally, this study also suggests that the relationship between having a sense of belonging to a consumer tribe and willingness to pay a premium price can be influenced by a public commitment without first establishing brand satisfaction by consumers.

Spas have become increasingly popular with consumers and have emerged as important profit centers for hotels. However, the uniqueness of this market has been largely overlooked in hospitality literature. The purpose of this paper is to fill the research gap by identifying different market segments among spa goers, based on a set of benefit variables.

A survey was administered to customers visiting hotel spas in Texas. Factor analysis was performed on 214 completed surveys to identify the dimensions underlying the benefits sought by spa goers. Cluster analysis was then applied to classify spa goers into different groups based on the benefit variables. Finally, importance‐performance analysis (IPA) was performed according to the groups to determine significant patterns.

Three distinct customer segments are identified based on the benefits sought by spa goers: escapists, neutralists, and hedonists. IPA results showed what each segment perceives as important and how well the hotel spas perform to meet expectations. The results of this paper support the effectiveness of the use of IPA with benefit segmentation.

The results of this paper should be interpreted cautiously and considered tentatively until they are replicated by a larger spa population. Currently, there are very few benchmark studies on spas to aid in the understanding of this promising market segment. It is hoped that this paper will stimulate much‐needed spa research in hospitality literature.

Future researchers and industry practitioners can gain insight into the motives and benefits sought by spa goers through the use of IPA in conjunction with benefit segmentation.

A strong indication of the reasons behind minority mayors' shift from deracialization can be found in the changes in the U.S. population over the last two decades. The changes in population has eroded – or potentially is in the process of eroding – a key variable in the election of minority mayors: the presence of a majority Black population. For example, with cities losing Black population while gaining Whites and Latinos, the conditions under which Black candidates run for mayor in many U.S. cities are quite different from the experience of the first elected Black mayors. Washington, DC has lost 16% of its Black population since 1990. Between 2000 and 2010, the Black population decreased by 6%. Yet, during the same time period, the district has experienced increases in White population, with a 14% increase since 2000. With a Black population of less than 50% as compared to a Black population over 70% in 1980, the district has enjoyed the distinction of no longer being a majority-Black city (Washington Post, 2007). Atlanta, Georgia also has experienced a loss of Black population (Cox News Service, 2007). These data are suggestive of trends where, if they continue, ambitious Black candidates for mayor will find their electoral coalitions composed of increased numbers of Whites and Latinos in areas where Blacks have dominated for decades.