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The purpose of this paper is, first, to review the main conceptual proposals for the study of information and communication technologies (ICT) in tourism companies, and second, to develop and validate a formative scale for measuring the degree of technological advancement in hotels, based on the perceptions of a sample of Spanish hotel guests.

After a literature review on the measurement of technology advancement in tourism, a formative scale for ICT advancement in hotels from the guest perspective is developed and validated through a multiple-indicator, multiple-cause model estimated through partial least squares regression with data from 197 Spanish hotel guests.

Results of the empirical research allow validating the proposed formative scale for measuring technological advancement in hotels, identifying solutions that hotel guests mainly associate with highly technified establishments.

The proposed and validated formative scale for measuring the degree of technological advancement of hotels is expected to enable the proposal of models where the relations between central variables in consumer behaviour research (e.g. value) and their dependent variables (e.g. satisfaction) may be influenced by guests’ perception of hotel technology.

This paper presents an initial attempt to develop a scale for measuring the degree of technological advancement of tourism companies, a topic that has received scant attention in acad`emic research in spite of the importance of technology in this industry.

本论文研究目的, 第一, 审阅关于旅游公司的信息通信技术（ICT）相关理论研究；第二, 以西班牙酒店客户为样本, 编制和验证酒店科技先进度的形成性量度。

本论文首先审阅了旅游产业中科技先进度测量的相关文献, 然后通过MIMIC模型编制了从酒店客户角度出发的测量酒店ICT的形成性量度, 最后通过197份西班牙酒店客户样本和偏最小二乘回归来验证模型。

本论文验证了衡量酒店科技先进度的形成性量度, 并且发现各种解决方案, 其酒店客户用来评价高科技酒店个体的标准。

编制和验证的衡量酒店科技先进度的形成性量度, 表明消费者行为学核心概念（比如, 价值）和消费者满意度之间, 是可以由酒店客户对酒店科技度的感知因素来影响的。

本论文首次编制衡量旅游公司科技先进度的量度。尽管科技在行业中被视为很重要, 但是这个话题在科研界受到较少的关注。

科技先进度、信息通信科技、形成性量度、反应性量度、酒店

研究论文

Within the abundant and not always unanimous body or research on conceptual and methodological approaches to consumer value in services, there are two areas of relative consensus: the multidimensional nature of value (intra-variable approach) and the existence of causal relations with other constructs (inter-variable approach). This work aims to contribute additional knowledge in both areas, with a joint approach in a structural model tested for hospitality services.

The study proposes four scales of intrinsic values (entertainment, aesthetics, ethics and spirituality as relaxation), based on Holbrook’s (1999) value typology, and a casual model to be used to measure the relationships between these four values and overall perceived value, satisfaction and loyalty. The model is tested with PLS on a sample of 585 hotel guests on the island of Sardinia (Italy).

The psychometric properties of all four value scales, created ad hoc, are tested and approved. Results on the causal model show contrasted links on the intra-variable approach, entertainment, aesthetics and spirituality (measured as relaxation), are positive antecedents of perceived value, while the path ethics-overall value is not confirmed. The value–satisfaction–loyalty chain is fully confirmed, with strong linkages.

The authors acknowledge the use of a convenience sample, of mainly leisure tourists.

The implications for managers are derived on the need of considering extra drivers (intrinsic and therefore fully experiential) of satisfaction and loyalty.

Research on value has been qualified as not univocal and controversial. This study adds knowledge on the use of four less common value types (intrinsic ones) and sheds light on their nature as antecedents of the well-known value–satisfaction–loyalty chain.

In organizational markets, many companies tend to reduce the number of providers to focus on establishing relationships with few of them. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of relationship value and dependence of supplier on long‐term orientation and customer loyalty in the setting of relationships between travel agencies and their main providers.

A partial least square regression is performed to test a proposed model that links several relational variables with outcomes in terms of customer loyalty.

Results provide support for the positive indirect influence of relationship value on long‐term orientation, while customer dependence of the main provider does not seem to exert a significant effect. These findings support the importance of value creation for providers in their relationships with their customers.

This study allows us to suggest that service companies, such as travel agents, should concentrate on investing in generating benefits for customers through offering value‐added services, thus providing evidence that the supplier has no incentives to opportunistic behaviors.

Although literature has reported the importance of both relational and market conditions for customer‐supplier relationships that involve physical distribution of goods and might require important investments in technological solutions to coordinate their relationships, little attention has been paid to service companies.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the classical topics of services literature in a tourism experience with a means‐end‐model on the quality‐value‐satisfaction‐loyalty chain. Within this wide stream of research, this work has a particular interest on value antecedents and on the sense of the link between value and satisfaction.

An overall tourism experience with positive and negative antecedents (benefits and sacrifices experienced) and classical evaluations (perceived value, satisfaction and loyalty as behavioral intention) is analyzed through two competing structural models measured with partial least squares on a sample of 274 students traveling in groups for leisure purposes.

The empirical findings show that: the chain of constructs service quality‐perceived value‐customer satisfaction‐loyalty is once again confirmed in a service setting; affective antecedents (social value, play and aesthetics) are more important determinants of perceived value and satisfaction than cognitive antecedents (efficiency, quality and effort spent); and the model performs better when value is understood as an antecedent of satisfaction than in the opposite case.

The findings illustrate how tourism settings are paradigmatically useful for researching perceived value within services because of the differences found between cognitive and affective antecedents. The target chosen (students) and the sampling method used (convenience) need further replication in order to assure the validity of the results.

Besides the use of PLS (rather than LISREL), the empirical purpose of measuring with same data a value‐satisfaction link and the reverse is interesting for services researchers in order to progress in the debate on the supremacy of one or another.

The main objective of this study is to understand the role that family council and protocol can have in the planning process of family companies.

To reach this general objective, the qualitative approach was used using multiple case studies: seven Portuguese family companies. Data collection techniques, interviewing, direct observation and documentary analysis were used.

Based on the empirical evidence, it is concluded that the family council and family protocol help succession planning and favour the continuity and survival of the family business. However, other working groups also support the entire planning process, such as the cousin generation meeting and the New Generation Monitoring Committee (or Mentoring Committee). The development of future personal plans for the younger generations may lie in this Committee, which assists and guides the younger family members.

This study is pioneering in Portugal because it analyses the use of new instruments that helps the succession planning process in family firm context: the family council and family protocol. These managerial mechanisms allow to achieve the success, allowing family conflicts to be minimized, the continuity of family firms and avoiding their mortality.

The study contributes to increasing knowledge about the family council, the family protocol, family firm succession and its planning. It is important and innovative by studying those topics in depth, their connection being little explored in the literature. This study can be seen as a benchmarking for governance practices in other countries.

To analyze the effect of an ambidextrous supply chain strategy (ASCS) – i.e. the combination of exploration and exploitation practices – on each of the four dimensions of supply chain flexibility (SCF): information system, operating system, sourcing and distribution flexibility. Further, to evaluate the influence of implementing the ISO 9001 standard on the relationship between ASCS and SCF, and whether this certification directly affects the level of SCF. We ground our model in Resource Orchestration theory.

To perform this study, the authors used data collected from a sample of 145 non-ISO-certified firms and 157 ISO-certified firms.

ASCS does not affect all four dimensions of SCF in the same way. Rather, its effect is contingent on the presence of the ISO 9001 certification. An ASCS is shown to have a positive effect on information system flexibility irrespective of the presence of ISO 9001 certification whereas for the other three dimensions of SCF, the effect of ASCS is dependent on ISO 9001 implementation. Meanwhile, ISO 9001 implementation itself does not affect the level of SCF.

Managers can use the findings to configure their supply chain strategy based on the specific dimension(s) of SCF they seek to develop by implementing ASCS. Further, the results inform managers about the incentives for implementing ISO 9001.

Although prior studies have shown that an ambidextrous strategy enables firms and organizational units to adapt to the environment, there have been few prior studies on ambidexterity in a supply chain context. Further, although the extant literature has suggested that the ISO 9001 may facilitate ambidexterity, this link has remained largely theoretical. In fact, there is very little prior evidence on how the practice of ISO 9001 affects the supply chain.

This study empirically analyzes the direct impacts of soft quality management practices (SQMP) and market orientation ambidexterity (MOA) on product innovation ambidexterity (PIA). It also examines the mediating role of MOA in the relationship between SQMP and PIA.

Following a quantitative research methodology, a well-structured questionnaire is used to collect data from 130 Moroccan certified ISO 9001 firms. The conceptual framework of the study was tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling.

The results show that SQMP have no significant association with PIA while they positively and significantly impact MOA. The study also revealed that MOA has a positive and significant impact on PIA and fully mediates the relationship between SQMP and PIA.

Due to the conceptualization of MOA and PIA as combined ambidexterity, the results of the study might be different in the case of balanced ambidexterity.

To achieve PIA, managers need to be aware that implementing SQMP, while important, is not enough. They must invest sufficient resources to properly implement these practices to support MOA. Consequently, MOA will lead their organization to PIA by establishing the significant impact of SQMP on PIA.

Regardless of the abundant literature on the relationship between quality management (QM) practices and innovation, this study is among the first to examine the impact of SQMP on PIA. Using MOA as a mediator can give a meaningful answer to the indecisive empirical results of the impact of QM on innovation. Furthermore, this research contributes to the scarce literature on relevant studies conducted in developing countries.

This paper aims to present an overview of the challenges encountered in integrating visual search interfaces into digital libraries and repositories. These challenges come in various forms, including information visualisation, the use of knowledge organisation systems and metadata quality. The main purpose of this study is the identification of criteria for the evaluation and integration of visual search interfaces, proposing guidelines and recommendations to improve information retrieval tasks with emphasis on the education-al context.

The information included in this study was collected based on a systematic literature review approach. The main information sources were explored in several digital libraries, including Science Direct, Scopus, ACM and IEEE, and include journal articles, conference proceedings, books, European project reports and deliverables and PhD theses published in an electronic format. A total of 142 studies comprised the review.

There are several issues that authors did not fully discuss in this literature review study; more specific, aspects associated with access of digital resources in digital libraries and repositories based on human computer interaction, i.e. usability and learnability of user interfaces; design of a suitable navigation method of search based on simple knowledge organisation schemes; and the use of usefulness of visual search interfaces to locate relevant resources.

The main steps for carrying out a systematic review are drawn from health care; this methodology is not commonly used in fields such as digital libraries and repositories. The authors aimed to apply the fundamentals of the systematic literature review methodology considering the context of this study. Additionally, there are several aspects of accessibility that were not considered in the study, such as accessibility to content for disabled people as defined by ISO/IEC 40500:2012.

No other systematic literature reviews have been conducted in this field. The research presents an in-depth analysis of the criteria associated with searching and navigation methods based on the systematic literature review approach. The analysis is relevant for researchers in the field of digital library and repository creation in that it may direct them to considerations in designing and implementing visual search interfaces based on the use of information visualisation.

Intense competitive environments demand the combination of quality and innovation. The potential of human resource management practices within the total quality framework for promoting innovation is under debate, particularly in relation to radical innovation. The purpose of this paper is to enhance and extend the analysis of the role of cultural change as a mediator.

The empirical study examines a sample of Spanish firms in highly competitive environments in their search for a combination of quality and innovation. To this end, the investigation includes structural equation analysis through partial least square path modelling.

According to the results, the cultural change towards exploitation and exploration brought about by the application of these practices has a positive and significant relationship with incremental innovation. The findings indicate that incremental innovation has a positive and significant effect on radical innovation as well. This outcome challenges a well-known phenomenon: the so-called “success trap”.

The study helps to understand how human resource management practices within a total quality framework can be designed and implemented as a means of generating synergies between the two fields.

This study adds two original contributions to the current dialogue on the implications of total quality management for innovation: it reveals the moderating role of cultural change for exploitation and exploration, and pinpoints the role of incremental innovation in facilitating radical innovation within the TQM framework.