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Student welfare and wellbeing is crucial to successful postgraduate study, regardless of the global location in which the study is taking place, making it an international issue. This study sought to add to the conversations occurring globally on this topic, focusing particularly on exploring academic faculty participation in higher education postgraduate taught (PGT) student mentoring initiatives.

By applying two theories, social exchange theory (SET) and equity theory (ET), faculty participation in postgraduate mentoring was explored and examined. A qualitative methodology, comprising 19 semi-structured interviews with faculty participating as mentors, was conducted. Data was analysed using template analysis, with SET and ET used to create thematic templates.

The application of SET and ET enabled faculty participation to be understood in terms of the perceived equity, costs and rewards of mentoring. Costs can be significant, sometimes outweighing the benefits, thus endangering the viability and sustainability of the PGT mentoring initiative. Analysis suggested two distinct types of “mentor mindsets” exist, which influence the perception of investments, equity, costs and rewards.

As higher education institutions face increasing pressure to support student welfare, it is imperative that personalised support is put under scrutiny so management practices can be established that support and encourage academic faculty participation in these support initiatives. This paper recommends how institutions can allay the costs of mentoring by considering mentor recruitment, selection, training and other supportive measures.

Advances in information communication technologies (ICTs) have changed the tourism distribution channels model, as traditional players continue to disappear or change their business model, while new players and channels emerge because of technological developments. Therefore, this study aims to propose a tourism distribution channels model for European island destinations.

Using an exploratory approach, interviews with 34 tourism stakeholders were conducted at ITB Berlin and WTM London in March 2014 and March/November 2016, and analyzed using thematic analysis.

The findings revealed that a number of changes have taken place within the distribution channels market over the past six years. The disappearance of incoming travel agents has increased, while new forms of online communication and distribution have appeared. In particular, social media, online review sites and mobile channels play an increasingly important role for hoteliers.

ICTs change the online landscape for tourist distribution in island destinations, and practitioners should make use of new online channels and be aware of disappearing tourism players to remain competitive.

First, this paper provides indications for the increased disintermediation in regard to incoming travel agents within the Cretan hospitality and tourism industry. Second, it investigates the issue of tourism distribution channels using a broad range of key tourism and hospitality players to provide a tourism distribution channels model for future reference. Finally, this study offers implications for the development of distribution strategies for tourism businesses and hoteliers in Crete.

The purpose of this paper is to explore whether and how entrepreneurs in the cultural and creative industries develop an entrepreneurial identity. It also aims to expand research on cultural and creative entrepreneurship.

The study is based on longitudinal qualitative cases and analyses the potential entrepreneurial identity development of eight cultural and creative entrepreneurs from Germany. The researchers create a framework to ascertain whether and, if so, how cultural and creative entrepreneurs develop an entrepreneurial identity.

The findings suggest that cultural and creative entrepreneurs do develop an entrepreneurial identity and incorporate their cultural and creative identity into that entrepreneurial identity whereas self-reflection is a key driver in the development.

Cultural and creative entrepreneurs are a key driver of economic development. Hence, it is important to generate a more detailed understanding of their entrepreneurial mind-set and their behaviour.

The study suggests that cultural and creative entrepreneurs actively develop an entrepreneurial identity and that self-reflection, communication with other entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial experience are the main drivers of their identity development. Nevertheless, their cultural and creative identity does have an influence on their entrepreneurial identity. In addition, the study demonstrates how such entrepreneurs develop their identity.

The purpose of this study is to expand the experience economy model and to determine if this model provides a better understanding of the process of growing intention to continue using religious cultural heritage content delivered digitally and intention to visit religious cultural heritage sites. In particular, it examines the influence of spiritual experience on the evaluation of religious cultural heritage content, comparing delivery via virtual reality (VR) to a web-based experience.

In this study, a representative religious cultural heritage destination, Jerusalem, was chosen as an example for the application. Participants (n = 292) were randomly divided into two groups, one group using the web and the other group experiencing VR. After experiencing the destination virtually, participants completed a survey, the results of which were analyzed using path analysis and multi-group analysis.

The results suggest that spiritual experience mediates the four elements of Pine and Gilmore (1998) experience economy model and the intention to continue engaging with the content virtually. Intellectual awareness of religious cultural heritage strengthens the spiritual experience, which mediates educational and aesthetic experiences and the successful use of VR and the web. Additionally, for participants experiencing VR, the influence of spiritual experience on the intention to continue using the virtual media to consume content related to religious cultural heritage sites and to visit actual religious heritage sites was stronger than for participants using the web.

This study based on an expanded experience economy model explores the use of digital technologies for the enhancement of spiritual experience. Comparison of web-based and VR content delivery provides important implications for destination marketers in terms of promoting destinations online and encouraging intention to visit actual sites in the future.

The use of augmented reality (AR) and experiential learning go hand in hand. Although AR learning opportunities have been well discussed, there is limited empirical research on the use of AR within higher education settings. Drawing from the uses and gratifications theory (U&GT), this study aims to explore the use of AR for learning satisfaction and student engagement, while also examining differences in learning styles.

This study used experiments with higher education students in the UK to explore the use of AR as part of the learning experience. Data from 173 students who experienced AR as part of their learning experience were analysed using partial least square analysis.

The authors found that hedonic, utilitarian, sensual and modality gratifications influence AR learning satisfaction and student engagement. Furthermore, the authors found differences between active and passive learners with regards to utilitarian (information seeking, personalisation) and sensual gratifications (immersion, presence) and effects on learning satisfaction.

This study developed and validated a U&GT framework incorporating different learning styles rooted in Kolb’s learning cycle. Findings provide important implications for the use of commercial AR applications as part of the learning experience within higher education settings.

Augmented reality (AR) is increasingly used in cultural heritage tourism sites for the enhancement of the tourist experience. However, behavioral intention to adopt AR is dependent on cultural traits, and close investigation is required on cultural differences. To explore these cultural differences and the effect on AR acceptance in cultural heritage tourism sites, this study aims to focus on the aesthetic and hedonic characteristics of AR applications.

Data were collected in two countries with strong contrasts in Hofstede’s cultural dimensions to explore cultural differences in AR acceptance. In total, 145 questionnaires were collected in Deoksugung Palace, South Korea, and 119 questionnaires were collected in the An Post Museum, Republic of Ireland. Data were analyzed using PLS Graph 3.0.

The findings confirmed that the aesthetics of AR have a strong influence on perceived enjoyment. Furthermore, this study supported the notion that high power distance, collectivism and high uncertainty avoidance culture such as South Korea’s perceives stronger dependence on social influence and the hedonic characteristics of AR.

AR innovation and marketing within the hospitality and tourism industry requires an understanding of cultural differences to ensure successful implementation. In addition, tourism and hospitality managers need to ensure that the needs and requirements of different target markets are met.

This study applied Hofstede’s cultural dimensions to explore the differences between two very distinct countries with regard to AR acceptance. The findings provide important implications for the implementation of tourism AR applications for different countries, especially considering international target markets.

Augmented reality (AR) is transforming the business and interactive marketing landscape. This research aims to investigate consumers' degree of involvement and if a feeling of immersion and presence influences AR shopping satisfaction, comparing high- and low-immersive AR experiences.

This paper uses a quantitative approach. Two studies were carried out: a high-immersive AR experiment with 173 participants and a low-immersive AR experience with 222 participants. Findings were analyzed using partial least square structural equation modeling with SmartPLS.

Results indicate the antecedents of immersion and presence differ when it comes to different immersive AR levels. In a high-immersive AR experience, flow, information seeking and novelty are attributes related to immersion, while enjoyment and personalization are related to presence. Contrastingly, in a low-immersive AR experience, only flow is related to immersion, while information seeking, novelty and personalization are related to presence. These results highlight the role of immersion and presence as mediators for AR shopping satisfaction experience.

This study's originality lies in the use of a rival model for analysis. Findings suggest a contingent perspective of AR experience, depending on high- or low-immersion experience, so companies must pay attention for how to measure AR experiences to increase involvement and satisfaction.

Recent advancements in wearable computing offer opportunities for art galleries to provide a unique experience. However, to ensure successful implementation of this new technology in the visitor industry, it is essential to understand user requirements from a visitor’s point of view. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to investigate visitors’ requirements for the development of a wearable smart glasses augmented reality (AR) application in the museum and art gallery context.

Interviews with 28 art gallery visitors were conducted and an affinity diagram technique was used to analyze the interviews.

The findings reveal that wearable AR is in its infancy and that technical and design issues have to be overcome for a full adoption. It reveals that content requirement, functional requirement, comfort, experience and resistance are important when developing and implementing the wearable AR application in the museum and art gallery contexts.

Mapping user requirements in the wearable smart glasses AR context using an affinity diagram is a new approach and therefore contributes to the creation of knowledge in the tourism domain. Practically, the area of wearable technologies and AR within the tourism and visitor industry context is still relatively unexplored, and the present paper provides a first foundation for the implementation of wearable smart glasses AR applications in the museum and art gallery context.

This paper aims to propose a value co-creation framework through examining the opportunities of implementing augmented reality, virtual reality and 3D printing into the visitor experience at cultural heritage places.

This study proposes the conceptual model of value co-creation using a case-study approach by presenting some cases of a cultural heritage place in the UK.

The findings of this study suggest that the effective use of multiple technologies in the context of cultural heritage places contributes to the co-creation of value for both cultural heritage organisations and also for visitors’ pre-visit, onsite and post-visit experience. Businesses can benefit from increased spending, intention to return and positive word-of-mouth, while visitors receive a personalised, educational, memorable and interactive experience.

Cultural heritage places have to find new ways to survive increasingly fierce competition. Using technology and the concept of value co-creation can prove to be a valuable concept in an attempt to attract new target markets, enhance visitors’ experience, create positive word-of-mouth and revisit intentions.

Recently, increased importance has been placed on the co-creation of value to account for consumers' interest in playing some part in the development of services and products. This study takes a holistic approach using augmented reality, virtual reality and 3D printing from a value co-creation perspective.

With the emergence of mobile devices, factors such as interaction and ubiquity have become increasingly important in the use of social media networks. However, regarding hotel guests’ use of social media, knowledge about how those factors contribute to guests’ continued social media use remains limited. The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of interaction and ubiquity mediated by trust, benefits and enjoyment on hotel guests’ continued use of social media networks.

To examine the hypotheses, a self-administered questionnaire was posted by ten UK hotels on their social media pages. A total of 258 usable data were collected and analyzed using partial least squares analysis.

Two social media characteristics – interaction and ubiquity – influenced hotel guests’ continued use of social media via the mediating variables of trust, benefits and enjoyment.

This study bridges the gap in research regarding intended continued use of social media networks by offering new empirical evidence concerning the determinants of hotel guests’ continued use of social media.