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Article
Publication date: 20 August 2021

Ming K. Lim, Yan Li and Xinyu Song

With the fierce competition in the cold chain logistics market, achieving and maintaining excellent customer satisfaction is the key to an enterprise's ability to stand out. This…

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Abstract

Purpose

With the fierce competition in the cold chain logistics market, achieving and maintaining excellent customer satisfaction is the key to an enterprise's ability to stand out. This research aims to determine the factors that affect customer satisfaction in cold chain logistics, which helps cold chain logistics enterprises identify the main aspects of the problem. Further, the suggestions are provided for cold chain logistics enterprises to improve customer satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach

This research uses the text mining approach, including topic modeling and sentiment analysis, to analyze the information implicit in customer-generated reviews. First, latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) model is used to identify the topics that customers focus on. Furthermore, to explore the sentiment polarity of different topics, bi-directional long short-term memory (Bi-LSTM), a type of deep learning model, is adopted to quantify the sentiment score. Last, regression analysis is performed to identify the significant factors that affect positive, neutral and negative sentiment.

Findings

The results show that eight topics that customer focus are determined, namely, speed, price, cold chain transportation, package, quality, error handling, service staff and logistics information. Among them, speed, price, transportation and product quality significantly affect customer positive sentiment, and error handling and service staff are significant factors affecting customer neutral and negative sentiment, respectively.

Research limitations/implications

The data of the customer-generated reviews in this research are in Chinese. In the future, multi-lingual research can be conducted to obtain more comprehensive insights.

Originality/value

Prior studies on customer satisfaction in cold chain logistics predominantly used questionnaire method, and the disadvantage of which is that interviewees may fill out the questionnaire arbitrarily, which leads to inaccurate data. For this reason, it is more scientific to discover customer satisfaction from real behavioral data. In response, customer-generated reviews that reflect true emotions are used as the data source for this research.

Details

Industrial Management & Data Systems, vol. 121 no. 12
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-5577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 September 2017

Yong Chen and Karen Xie

This paper aims to identify a wide array of utility-based attributes of Airbnb listings and measures the effects of these attributes on consumers’ valuation of Airbnb listings.

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to identify a wide array of utility-based attributes of Airbnb listings and measures the effects of these attributes on consumers’ valuation of Airbnb listings.

Design/methodology/approach

A hedonic price model was developed to test the effects of a group of utility-based attributes on the price of Airbnb listings, including the characteristics of Airbnb listings, attributes of hosts, reputation of listings and market competition. The authors examined attributes as they relate to the price of Airbnb listings and, therefore, estimated consumers’ willingness to pay for the specific attributes. The model was tested by using a dataset of 5,779 Airbnb listings managed by 4,602 hosts in 41 census tracts of Austin, Texas in the USA over a period from Airbnb’s launch in Texas up until November 2015.

Findings

The authors found that the functional characteristics of Airbnb listings were significantly associated to the price of the listings, and that three of five behavioral attributes of hosts were statistically significant. However, the effect of reputation of listings on the price of Airbnb listings was weak.

Originality/value

This study inspires what they call a factor-endowment valuation of Airbnb listings. It shows that the intrinsic attributes that an Airbnb listing endows are the primary source of consumer utilities, and thus consumer valuation of the listing is grounded on its functionality as an accommodation. This conclusion can shed light on the examination of competition between Airbnb and hotel accommodations that are built on the same or similar intrinsic attributes.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 29 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 May 2021

Xiaofan Lai, Fan Wang and Xinrui Wang

Online hotel ratings, a form of electronic word of mouth (eWOM), are becoming increasingly important to tourism and hospitality management. Using sentiment analysis based on the…

1427

Abstract

Purpose

Online hotel ratings, a form of electronic word of mouth (eWOM), are becoming increasingly important to tourism and hospitality management. Using sentiment analysis based on the big data technique, this paper aims to investigate the relationship between customer sentiment and online hotel ratings from the perspective of customers’ motives in the context of eWOM, and to further identify the moderating effects of review characteristics.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors first retrieve 273,457 customer-generated reviews from a well-known online travel agency in China using automated data crawlers. Next, they exploit two different sentiment analysis methods to obtain sentiment scores. Finally, empirical studies based on threshold regressions are conducted to establish the asymmetric relationship between customer sentiment and online hotel ratings.

Findings

The results suggest that the relationship between customer sentiment and online hotel ratings is asymmetric, and a negative sentiment score will exert a larger decline in online hotel ratings, compared to a positive sentiment score. Meanwhile, the reviewer level and reviews with pictures have moderating effects on the relationship between customer sentiment and online hotel ratings. Moreover, two different types of sentiment scores output by different sentiment analysis methods verify the results of this study.

Practical implications

The moderating effects of reviewer level and reviews with pictures offer new insights for hotel managers to make different customer service policies and for customers to select a hotel based on reviews from the online travel agency.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the literature by applying big data analysis to the issues in hotel management. Based on the eWOM communication theories, this study extends previous study by providing an analysis framework for the relationship between customer sentiment and online hotel ratings from the perspective of customers’ motives in the context of eWOM.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 33 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 July 2015

Graham L. Bradley, Beverley A. Sparks and Karin Weber

The paper aims to examine the impact of customer-generated negative online reviews on hospitality employees and businesses. It introduces the concept of negative online review

3373

Abstract

Purpose

The paper aims to examine the impact of customer-generated negative online reviews on hospitality employees and businesses. It introduces the concept of negative online review stress, or NOR_Stress (occupational stress due to being targeted by negative online reviews), and present strategies for researching and managing the impact of negative online reviews.

Design/methodology/approach

This conceptual paper sets forth a framework, based on the stress, services and hospitality literature, within which negative online reviews, NOR_Stress, and their impact on individuals and businesses can be understood. Aspects of the framework are illustrated by application of online archival material.

Findings

The paper demonstrates how negative online reviews can have adverse and diverse effects on restaurant industry employees and businesses.

Research limitations/implications

The paper sets out a research agenda relating to negative online reviews and NOR_Stress causes, consequences and countermeasures. Multiple research questions are posed, to be investigated through a combination of qualitative, survey and experimental methods.

Practical implications

Four types of countermeasures are presented: preventative, protective, positive and palliative.

Social implications

Negative online reviews can exact a hefty toll, potentially resulting not only in reduced customer patronage and company profitability but also in human and social consequences in the form of adverse stress reactions, loss of face and damaged personal and professional relationships.

Originality/value

Negative online reviews have proliferated over the past decade and will continue to grow. This paper is the first to critically examine the human and business impacts of this growing threat to the hospitality industry.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 27 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 April 2024

Nitin Patwa, Monika Gupta and Amit Mittal

This study aims to examine the impact of consumer risk appetite, biases (specifically negative recency bias), and the importance of reviews in enhancing information quality. By…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to examine the impact of consumer risk appetite, biases (specifically negative recency bias), and the importance of reviews in enhancing information quality. By analyzing these variables, the authors gain insights into their role in enriching the overall information spectrum available to consumers. The findings contribute to a better understanding of how risk appetite, biases and consumer reviews shape the quality of information.

Design/methodology/approach

The questionnaire assessed the relationship between dependent and independent variables by asking participants to rate their experiences in relevant scenarios. Variance-based structural equation modeling with the ADANCO program was used to examine the data. ADANCO software is used explicitly for variance-based structural equation modeling. To evaluate research models and test hypotheses, partial least square path modeling is used.

Findings

The efficiency of reviews and ratings is greatly influenced by consumer risk appetite. Businesses should focus on clients who are willing to take risks and balance positive and negative feedback. It is essential to comprehend how customers understand reviews. Credibility is increased by taking biases into account and encouraging unbiased criticism. Promoting thorough reviews strengthens influence. Monitoring and making use of these elements improve online reputation and commercial success.

Research limitations/implications

The research has limitations due to the simplicity of the attributes taken into account and the requirement for a larger sample size. Overcoming barriers to promote consistent client feedback is essential, and tailored emails can help with assessment generation. Increased customer participation in writing evaluations can be achieved by removing obstacles and highlighting the advantages of participation.

Originality/value

Businesses and buyers rely on this “organically” generated content as the basis of their promotional strategy and buying decisions. Most of the research is related to consumer reviews, their behavior and the importance of social validation. However, some critical aspects related to this need further investigation.

Details

Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2514-9342

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 November 2017

Karin Weber, Graham L. Bradley and Beverley Sparks

Owners, managers and employees may be criticized personally and professionally by consumers in online reviews, and may suffer emotional and burnout consequences. The purpose of…

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Abstract

Purpose

Owners, managers and employees may be criticized personally and professionally by consumers in online reviews, and may suffer emotional and burnout consequences. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of customer-generated negative online reviews on hospitality employees.

Design/methodology/approach

This research analyzed the effects of traditional face-to-face customer-related social stressors, as well as a newly added negative online review (NOR) stressor, on anger and burnout in a sample of 418 US hospitality workers.

Findings

Structural equation modeling revealed that, after taking into account the contribution of customer-related social stressors, receipt of NORs predicts anger and anger mediates the relationships between NOR-receipt and two indices of burnout.

Practical implications

This research extends our understanding of social stressors that apply to workers in the hospitality industry. It offers strategies for managing the threats and optimizing the opportunities, provided by negative online reviews.

Originality/value

This study is one of the first studies that provide evidence of the personal impact of NORs on hospitality industry employees, thereby extending our understanding of social stressors that apply to workers in this industry.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 29 no. 11
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 July 2019

Minwoo Lee, Seonjeong (Ally) Lee and Yoon Koh

This study aims to investigate the effect of customers’ multisensory service experience on customer satisfaction with cognitive effort and affective evaluations using big data and…

4847

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the effect of customers’ multisensory service experience on customer satisfaction with cognitive effort and affective evaluations using big data and business intelligence techniques.

Design/methodology/approach

Online customer reviews for all New York City hotels were collected from Tripadvisor.com and analyzed through business intelligence and big data analytics techniques including data mining, text analytics, sentiment analysis and regression analysis.

Findings

The current study identifies the relationship between affective evaluations (i.e. positive affect and negative affect) and customer satisfaction. Research findings also find the negative effect of reviewer’s cognitive effort on satisfaction rating. More importantly, this study demonstrates the moderating role of multisensory experience as an innovative marketing tool on the relationship between affect/cognitive evaluation and customer satisfaction in the hospitality setting.

Originality/value

This study is the first study to explore the critical role of sensory marketing on hotel guest experience in the context of hotel customer experience and service innovation, based on big data and business intelligence techniques.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 31 no. 11
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 September 2016

Bona Kim, Seongseop Kim and Cindy Y. Heo

The purpose of this study is to analyze online hotel reviews produced by customers to identify and compare factors known as satisfiers and dissatisfiers based on Herzberg’s…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to analyze online hotel reviews produced by customers to identify and compare factors known as satisfiers and dissatisfiers based on Herzberg’s two-factor theory. This approach was applied to compare full-service and limited-service hotels, which can show different levels of customer expectation.

Design/methodology/approach

A content analysis of 919 satisfaction- and dissatisfaction-indicating reviews of 100 hotels in both full-service and limited-service hotel segments in New York City on Trip Advisor was conducted.

Findings

Results show that satisfiers and dissatisfiers in full-service hotels were distinct, with the exception of two common service-related factors, namely, “staff and their attitude” and “service”. On the other hand, “staff and their attitude” and four room facilities-related factors, “room cleanliness/dirtiness”, “bed”, “bathroom” and “room size”, were revealed as common satisfiers and dissatisfiers in limited-service hotels. To fulfill customer satisfaction and resolve dissatisfaction in both full-service and limited-service hotels, satisfiers and dissatisfiers should be highlighted according to the hotel class; the most critical factor is “staff and their attitude”.

Practical implications

Analysis of online hotel reviews provides understanding of customers’ satisfiers and dissatisfiers, and the results are very useful to hotel management. Therefore, hotel operators should monitor electronic word-of-mouth, recognizing and acting upon previous and current customers’ satisfactory and unsatisfactory reactions.

Originality/value

As technologies such as social media develop, customers are increasingly sharing their satisfactory and unsatisfactory experiences on consumer-generated online review sites. These have become a major source of information not only for customers deciding on a hotel stay but also for hotel managers trying to understand their customers and competitors.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 28 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 9 February 2023

Silvia Ranfagni and Massimo Rosati

The chapter proposes to investigate online reputation of hospitality brands and its measurements. Brand reputation is generally defined as an overall appraisal of a company by its…

Abstract

The chapter proposes to investigate online reputation of hospitality brands and its measurements. Brand reputation is generally defined as an overall appraisal of a company by its stakeholders, which is the result of the company's past actions and predictions about the company's future (Ferguson, Deephouse, & Ferguson, 2000). Being viewed as the opinion shared among a group of stakeholders (Dowling, 2008), it plays an important role in the tourism industry. With the progress of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs), reviews and user-generated contents of destinations and of hospitality companies together with the related emerging brand reputation can influence consumers' behaviors and choices. Brand reputation analysis could be more useful in the hospitality brand management when integrated with brand image and brand identity analysis, mainly because in tourism businesses and destinations, brands are typically affected by an inherent fragility determined by the service nature of products (Casarin, 1996). According to Biel (1991), the meanings that consumers assign to a brand are synthesized into brand associations formed by the components perceived to underlie the brand's image. As well as brand reputation, strong, positive and unique associations reinforce a brand and increase its equity that requires significant internal brand identity efforts, which should create a corresponding brand image through integration in overall marketing programmes (Keller, 2003). It makes sense to develop an analytical research approach that compares online brand reputation (OBR) with brand association matching as a measure of the alignment between brand identity and brand image in hospitality companies. This comparative analysis emerging from brand reputation, brand image and brand identity analysis can reveal divergent situations (i.e., high brand reputation and low brand association matching) and orient brand managers in reviewing online brand communication. Brand reputation and brand image analysis will be contextualized in an online community as a social setting that is considered to be a new type of market (Muniz & O'Guinn, 2001). We focus on hospitality online communities populated by consumers and other actors such as influencers and bloggers: their brand perception could be separately compared with brand identity that we will extract from company communications including presentational information and brand-related press releases found on websites, nonfinancial narrative from annual reports, and interviews with managers published in mainstream media sources. In our analysis we will focalize on a cluster of luxury hospitality companies integrating a netnographic and text-mining techniques. We will use both the techniques in order to (1) extract and study brand associations in terms of brand reputation, brand image, and brand identity; (2) develop indicators of brand reputation and brand association matching; and (3) discuss their utility in the management of the hospitality company brands.

Details

Online Reputation Management in Destination and Hospitality
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80382-376-8

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 August 2023

Ali Sajedikhah, Hossein Rezaei Dolatabadi and Arash Shahin

This study aims to investigate the extent and pattern of the influence of one of the most important decision-making tools in the context of social commerce. This study…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the extent and pattern of the influence of one of the most important decision-making tools in the context of social commerce. This study demonstrates how much customer testimonials (including verified purchases and ordinary users) can influence the sales rank of experience and search goods.

Design/methodology/approach

The data were collected by text mining and performing a content analysis on the XML documents of Web pages and processing them. For search goods, 22,311 opinions were recorded regarding 95 mobile phones. Additionally, for experience goods, 67,817 opinions were recorded regarding 162 books in the Amazon online store. The data were analyzed by functional regression method in longitudinal data analysis.

Findings

In terms of importance, the opinions and recommendations of verified purchases had a 60% greater impact on the sales rank of experience goods than the opinions and recommendations of ordinary users. In search goods, the opinions of ordinary users had a greater impact than the opinions of verified purchases. The historical effect of the opinions of ordinary users at the end of the review period on sales rank was evident, while the historical effect of the verified purchase viewpoints during the review period had a nonlinear curve. The results showed that it was necessary to increase the volume of comments to increase their reliability in experience goods.

Practical implications

Measuring the effect of customer testimonials helps the managers of retail websites design algorithms and online suggestion systems, thereby improving the sales of their products by providing information desired by customers.

Social implications

Individuals can be a source of information and influence the buying decision process of others by sharing their experiences. This issue helps reduce the purchase risk and explains the importance of interaction and sharing the customer’s experience.

Originality/value

Analyzing the impact of customer testimonials by separating verified purchases and ordinary users is one of the advantages of this study. The quantitative estimation of the impact of recommendations and the provision of a model of their historical effect is one of the approaches not addressed in similar studies.

Details

Competitiveness Review: An International Business Journal , vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1059-5422

Keywords

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