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The goal of this paper is to use the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) paradigm to understand how ineffective marketplace stimuli affect perceptions related to online travel package booking, which in turn cultivate various types of confusion, and how these confusions are channelled into behavioural dispositions of consumers, such as negative electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). It also aims to investigate the moderating effects of gender and technology self-efficacy for the suggested framework.

A sample of 437 participants who had recently booked an online travel package, underwent an analysis using a survey study design. Structural equation modelling with multigroup analysis was used to evaluate the hypotheses and the moderation effect.

The findings suggest that inefficient market stimulus results in various forms of confusion, further contributing to negative eWOM. The results also imply that technology self-efficacy lessens the effect of various confusions on adverse eWOM, and gender is found to have a moderating effect on the relationships between ineffective marketplace stimuli, confusion and negative eWOM.

The research offers tourism and hospitality management advice on how to deal with inefficient marketplace stimulation to lessen confusion, which then reduces unfavourable eWOM. Additionally, the moderate impact of technology self-efficacy and gender established through the current study has important ramifications from a tourism managers' perspective.

This study develops and validates an empirical model, which will be utilised as a framework to fully understand consumer confusion brought on by ineffective marketplace stimulation, which causes adverse eWOM. The study also gives new perspectives on the moderating roles of gender and technology self-efficacy, which have received little attention in earlier studies.

Cluttered website layout and a poor presentation of information on limited web space are present on tourism websites as ineffective marketplace stimuli that give rise to the problem of consumers' confusion. Based on stimulus organism response theory (SOR), this research investigates the three-dimensional confusion framework, its direct and indirect effect on negative eWOM, and consumers' decision postponement, considering negative emotion as a mediator.

On the data gathered from 501 respondents, structural equation modelling was used to test the proposed research hypotheses.

The results reveal the existence of the ineffective marketplace stimulus as an antecedent of consumer confusion. Further outcomes validate the cognitive, affective and response behaviour state by demonstrating the direct influence of different types of confusion on negative emotions, electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) and decision postponement. The association between cognitive and response behaviour is also mediated by negative emotion.

The study offers substantial practical insights for managers and company operators to better grasp the significance of the affective dimension in consumer confusion in view of the extended SOR model to encapsulate the role of human consciousness.

This study is among the first extensive studies to examine consumer confusion in the context of the modified SOR model that captures the essence of human consciousness by understanding the role of affective emotions between various confusions, negative eWOM and decision postponement. In addition, the ineffective marketplace stimulus as a confusion antecedent and negative eWOM as a response behaviour were studied for the first time.

The purpose of this paper is to determine how the presence of cleaning staff affects perceptions and satisfaction of train passengers. Day-time cleaning is becoming increasingly popular in (public) service environments. It is however unknown how the presence of cleaning staff in the service environment affects perceptions and satisfaction of end-users.

Two experimental field studies were performed. Data for the first study were collected on the trajectory between the train station of Assen and the station of Groningen (N = 506) in the northern part of the Netherlands. Data for the second study were collected on the trajectory between train station “Amsterdam Amstel” and train station “Utrecht Centraal” (N = 1,113) in the central part of the Netherlands. In the experimental condition, two cleaners collected waste and performed minor cleaning activities (i.e. empty trash bins, cleaning doors and tables) during the journey. After the first study, cleaners received hospitality training and corporate uniforms.

The presence of cleaning staff positively influenced train passengers’ perceptions and satisfaction. Effects were stronger in the second study, after the second consecutive intervention (i.e. hospitality training, corporate uniforms). In both studies, the presence of cleaners positively influenced passengers’ perceptions of staff, cleanliness and comfort. The perception of atmosphere was only significant after the intervention.

The findings of this study allow in-house and corporate facility managers to better understand the possible effects of the presence of their cleaning staff on end-user perceptions and satisfaction.

The study’s value lies in its human centred approach by demonstrating the importance of day-time cleaning. This area of research has been largely neglected in the field of facilities and (public) services management research.

This chapter seeks to investigate the journey of breast and bowel cancer patients at the HMC Antoniushove. It zooms in on specific touch points and the possibilities for improvements. Furthermore, it elucidates the learning process and more particular the dissemination between the hospital (staff and medical students) and hospitality students and professionals and emphasizes that looking from different perspectives and various disciplines is beneficial for all the stakeholders involved in hospitals.

Diseases are increasingly chronic; patients are more demanding and competition between different hospitals is increasing. That is why, in addition to excellent medical treatment, excellent service (referred to here as hospitality) is becoming increasingly important in the healthcare sector, including in hospitals. What does it have to meet? What do patients appreciate, what needs to be improved and how can these improvements be designed and implemented with the involvement of both patients and hospital staff?

Medical and hospitality students collaborated in this project analysing and describing the journey of patients with breast and bowel cancer. They examined the patient journey and elucidated the touch points, which patients indicated as critical during their ‘journey’.

Most important finding resulted from the learning process of this collaboration and the insight gained, a greater awareness and understanding of the non-medical needs and wishes, i.e. hospitality, of patients. Furthermore, the mutual understanding between the evidence-based stance of thinking of medical students and hospital staff at the one side and the more on soft skills–focused attitude of hospitality students on the other hand increased.

The tourism industry is seeing unprecedented growth due to the convergence of the internet and growing travel trends. E-tourism digitises the tourism business, including processes, value chains, infrastructure, services and auxiliary industries, to maximise efficiency and effectiveness. It is in response to the globalisation of the tourism sector, which has spurred the introduction of information and communications technologies (ICTs) during the past four decades. ICT can boost travellers' satisfaction by providing pre-trip information about tourism attractions and allowing them to contact vendors directly, obtain accurate information and get the lowest price.

ICT has made the global tourism sector more competitive by providing pre-trip information about tourism attractions, allowing tourists to contact vendors directly, obtain accurate information and get the lowest price. Search engines, transport capacity and network speeds have increased the number of international travellers who use technology to organise and document their trips. E-tourism reduces seasonality, improves consumer communication and boosts reservations and sales. ICT also affects customer behaviour management and future marketing models and supports tourism industry globalisation by providing practical tools to tourism agents to develop and disseminate their offers globally. Strategic behaviours significantly impact tourism, as eliminating intermediaries shortens the distance between client and provider. ICT is a new way to boost tourism demand, which attracts more tourists and generates more revenue while improving the sector.

Concerning the emergence of Industry 4.0 and the concept of “smartness”, the technology competence of hospitality practitioners that was previously neglected and overlooked should be explored. Therefore, this study aims to explore previous hospitality technology competence through a literature review and then to extend, strengthen and build a new framework of the required technology competencies for hospitality practitioners in terms of facing smartness.

To investigate the previous research on the characteristics of the required technology competencies for hospitality practitioners, this study carried out a systematic literature review (SLR) on works published from 2011 to 2020. Then, based on the SLR results, the required technology competencies for hospitality practitioners in terms of facing smartness was explored with 26 experts from the government, industry and academia. The data were analysed through thematic analysis based on the perspectives of task–technology fit, and then, the framework was constructed.

This study reconfirmed that technology competence has been neglected in the previous hospitality competence literature and that the current methods and ways of thinking cannot succeed in this smart era. Moreover, based on fundamental technology competence, a new framework with ten dimensions of technology competencies required for hospitality practitioners in terms of facing smartness was created.

This study identified the required technology competencies for hospitality practitioners, an area that has rarely been addressed in the previous literature. Moreover, specific competencies, especially those needed to face this smart era, are urgent and novel in the academic hospitality field.

面向智能时代的智能性：为酒店从业人员构建一项包含所需技术能力的理论框架

关于工业4.0的出现和“智慧”的概念, 酒店从业者的技术能力在前人研究中经常被探索和忽视。 因此, 本研究旨在通过文献回顾, 然后扩展、加强和建立酒店从业人员在面对智能方面所需的技术能力的新框架来探索以前的酒店技术能力。

为了调查之前关于酒店从业人员所需技术能力特征的研究, 本研究对 2011 年至 2020 年发表的作品进行系统文献综述 (SLR)。然后, 根据 SLR 结果, 酒店从业人员在面对来自政府、行业和学术界的 26 位专家关于智能进行了探讨。 基于任务-技术契合度 的视角, 通过主题分析和对数据进行分析, 然后构建框架。

本研究再次证实, 在以往的酒店能力文献中, 技术能力一直被忽视, 当前的方法和思维方式无法在这个智能时代取得成功。 此外, 在基础技术能力的基础上, 本研究创建了酒店从业者面对智慧所需的十个维度技术能力的新框架。

本研究确定了酒店从业人员所需的技术能力, 这是以前文献中很少涉及的领域。 此外, 特定的能力, 尤其是面对这个智能时代所需的能力, 在酒店管理的学术领域是紧迫而新颖的。

The internet is rapidly becoming the main channel for seeking and booking travel services. The consequent human–interface interactions are now the focal point of many studies being conducted by both scholars and practitioners. The development of websites involves many design choices, such as background, colors, fonts, and different ways of presenting information. The study here argues that these seemingly “trivial” design choices may have nontrivial effects on customers’ behavior. The study presents three empirical examples supporting this idea. The first example refers to the presentation of hotels as items on a list on websites, which creates a “mere position” effect. The second example shows that different partitioning of an attribute’s values can impact their relative importance. The third example shows that background features (color, picture) may result in priming effects. In all cases, the seemingly trivial changes in design directly alter customers’ choices although, rationally, they should have no impact at all.

Considering the importance of employees' voice behavior (VB) and psychological capital (PC) amidst the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), this study highlights the role of authentic leadership (AL) in building a psychologically strong workforce that can provide meaningful suggestions for the improvement of organization.

The study employed a questionnaire survey to collect the data and recruited 261 participants from the telecom sector Sindh, Pakistan. The data analysis was done using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

The findings of the study supported the hypotheses suggesting that AL can directly influence employees' VB and indirectly via PC.

The study was conducted during the COVID-19 in the telecom sector of Sindh, Pakistan. This study contributes by providing useful insights into that AL is an important form of leadership that encourages employees' voluntary behavior and psychological strength during the COVID-19 pandemic.