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The purpose of this research is to explore and define the digital maturity of events using the Industry 4.0 model (I4.0) to create a definition for Events 4.0 (E4.0) and to place various relevant technologies on a scale of digital maturity.

In a mixed methods approach, we carried out a qualitative social media analysis and a quantitative survey of tourism and events academics. These surveys and the thorough literature review that preceded them allowed us to map the digital technologies used in events to levels of a digital maturity model.

We found that engagement with technology at events and delegate knowledge satisfactorily coexists for and across a number of different experiential levels. However, relative to I4.0, event research and the events industry appear to be digitally immature. At the top of the digital maturity scale, E4.0 might be defined as an event that is digitally managed; frequently upgrades its digital technology; fully integrates its communication systems; and optimizes digital operations and communication for event delivery, marketing, and customer experience. We expect E4.0 to drive further engagement with digital technologies and develop further research.

This study has responded to calls from the academic literature to provide a greater understanding of the digital maturity of events and how events engage with digital technology. Furthermore, the research is the first to introduce the concept of E4.0 into the academic literature. This work also provides insights for events practitioners which include the better understanding of the digital maturity of events and the widespread use of digital technology in event delivery.

Waiting in services commonly reduces customer satisfaction and has a considerable and enduring negative effect on the overall evaluation of a service. Waiting may even lead consumers to abandon a service or to avoid that service on future occasions. This paper aims to advance the understanding of the role played by culture in shaping the perceptions of waiting in services. In doing so, the study aims to demonstrate that solutions for managing waiting in services should be culturally appropriate.

This study uses in-depth interviews and consumer diaries. The sample includes expatriates from most continents living in Catalonia, Spain.

The study confirms existing theories on cultural differences in time orientations in a services marketing context. It uncovers a range of culture-bound rules of waiting and differences in cultural interpretations of what it means to wait and even whether waiting is occurring or not.

This study questions the applicability of some standard waiting solutions across cultural contexts. Companies that operate in different cultures should consider their approach to managing waiting times according to the cultural time orientations of their customer base. The cultural aspects of time-based service guarantees and time-rationing strategies are considered.

This paper takes an innovate approach to “uncovering” the implicit rules of waiting by asking expatriate consumers about their waiting experiences while living abroad. Expatriates are in a unique position to identify these differences, as they have a cultural point of comparison with their home countries.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the explanatory power of the service-profit chain (SPC) model in a context that differs from its original conception. The authors do so by considering whether the main relationships it proposes apply in the context of call centre services, characterised by remote services and cost cutting business models.

The data were gathered from a survey of call centre management with a sample of 937 call centres from 14 countries. The analysis was carried out using structural equation modelling.

Findings reveal that the SPC model behaves somewhat differently in call centres. Although there is general support for most of the links in the model, the results indicate that customer satisfaction in the call centre industry is a separate outcome, rather than a precursor to company performance.

As is common in most research of this type, the present study is based on cross-sectional data.

Managers would be well advised to keep in mind that even minimum investments in human capital can make a difference in customer satisfaction and company results.

This is the first study to examine the main links in the SPC in non-traditional, non-face-to-face services. It demonstrates that the basic logic of the model is upheld, thus providing evidence that the boundaries of the SPC model may be further pushed in line with the peculiarities of the evolving service economy. Also, the authors make a methodological contribution by proposing a series of organisational level proxies for measuring elements of the chain that are typically assessed using individual level data that is expensive to gather.

This paper aims to draw attention to the need for a nuanced view of the emotional contagion framework. It proposes and empirically tests a refined model of emotional contagion and its effects in the hotel sector by focusing on the front-desk service encounter interactions.

Data were collected from three separate groups of paired informants: receptionists, hotel customers and interaction observers. The sample included 573 full customer service interactions in 47 hotels in Catalonia. The model was tested with structural equation modelling.

Emotional contagion has specific mechanisms at the hotel front-desk. No relationship was found between receptionists’ inner mood and their outwardly displayed emotions. Yet, receptionists’ displayed emotions enhance customer mood, and, largely, customer satisfaction. Ultimately, this affects customer behavioural intentions. It was also discovered that guests are able to clearly distinguish between their satisfaction with the specific service encounter at the front desk and the overall satisfaction with the hotel stay. The positive effects of employees’ displayed emotions are of particular importance in lower-star hotels and are less important at the high end. Perceived training opportunities have a positive effect on customer satisfaction and improve the employee-displayed emotion.

Researchers should examine employee outcomes that are more stable than mood, but may enhance or be related to the effective display of emotions at the front desk, such as employee satisfaction and commitment. In general, emotions and behaviours of employees and consumers should be further examined in other services across the hospitality industry, in different cultural contexts and in terms of their impact on company performance. Researchers should heed the precise type of mechanism that takes place in each service context.

The hotel management should focus their efforts on ensuring positive emotional performance, regardless of employees’ inner mood. Managers should carefully interpret differentiated results according to whether they have been drawn from overall satisfaction or customer service interaction surveys. The training provision is of particular importance in lower-star hotels, where customer outcomes depend more on employee-displayed emotion.

This study empirically corroborates that customer outcomes of front-desk services are linked to receptionists’ displayed emotions, and not to employees’ feelings. Onsite data collection, multiple-informant approach, paired dyads and structural equation modelling hold a great potential for study designs that seek insights into interpersonal phenomena in hospitality services research.

Although waiting on the Internet is widely recognised as a crucial factor in the evolution of e‐commerce and the Internet in general, it is not a widespread topic of research. This article identifies and reviews 21 papers based on 13 separate empirical studies on waiting on the Internet. The literature draws from the areas of marketing, system response time studies and quality of service studies. Having reviewed the existing literature, this article proposes an agenda for future research. Recommendations are made to extend the range of research methodologies applied to this topic, to broaden the definition of waiting on the Internet to include other forms of online waiting, and to continue the interdisciplinary approach to research on online waiting.

E‐consumers consistently complain that the internet is frustratingly slow. Most existing research on this phenomenon is based on the concept of “download delay”, that is, the time required for a web page to fully download to the e‐consumer's computer screen. This paper reports on an exploratory study of the phenomenon of waiting for service on the internet with the intention of extending the narrow conceptualisation of the phenomenon of “download delay” to a more user‐based perspective of waiting on the internet.

The study is based on a qualitative research methodology. The research methods are seven asynchronous virtual focus groups involving 126 intensive internet users over 17 days and 92 participants who maintained personal diaries of waiting on the internet over a nine‐week period.

A new definition of waiting on the internet is proposed based on extensive virtual focus group research. Subsequently, 14 distinct types of internet waiting situations are identified based on the analysis of a total of 1,041 waiting situations as reported by the participants in the study.

A number of practical implications for various functional areas of the business are outlined. Conceptual and methodological contributions are also made.

The study is the first to present a broader conceptualisation of waiting on the internet from an e‐consumer perspective and based on empirical research. All previous research has been based on just one type of online waiting, i.e. waiting for web pages to download to the user's screen. This paper presents 13 “new” types of waiting situations on the internet.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the quality of jobs in call centres by focusing on the opportunities for promotion in this sector. More specifically, the research questions focus on discovering whether promotion is common practise in the call centre sector and on identifying the factors that affect this.

A survey questionnaire was administered to call centre directors or their human resource managers. A least square regression analysis was carried out to examine how training, job security and knowledge about employees' abilities, affect the use of promotion in call centres, as well as three structural variables of the organisations: size, being part of a larger organisation and whether the call centre was in‐house or outsourced.

The results suggest a limited use of promotion and the absence of consolidated internal labour markets in this sector. Nevertheless, a diverse range of call centres exists in terms of the use of promotion. The analysis identifies structural and managerial variables that identify where promotion is likely to be employed more intensively in call centres.

The main limitation of the paper is related to the variables used to examine training. An important implication of the results for managers is the suggestion to employ promotion policies with other human resource management practices.

The main contribution of this paper is the finding that the use of promotion has been determined by structural factors and other management practices. Therefore, call centre managers are encouraged to establish these practices in order to subsequently facilitate the use of promotion.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the actual variability of job quality in Spanish call centers (CCs) and to examine the factors that determine the existence of better quality jobs in this sector.

Data are collected via survey. The analysis takes place in two stages: First, a standardised index of job quality is generated; second, an ordinary least squares regression analysis is used to evaluate the extent to which the independent variables identified in the literature affect the degree of job quality in CCs.

There is considerable variability in the quality of jobs in Spanish CCs. This means that the sector cannot be stereotyped as providing either dead‐end or highly professionalized jobs.

Indeed, this variability depends on the type of management model in use and the participation of managers in professional associations/networks. No relationships are found between the strategy followed by the CC and the quality of jobs provided.

One of the main contributions of this paper is the index of job quality it proposes. For management and policy makers, the paper moves the discussion on the sector beyond the importance of CCs as a source of job creation, and considers the type of jobs that are being provided and under which conditions.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how chocolate lovers balance taste and ethical considerations when selecting chocolate products.

The data set was collected through a survey at the 2014 “Salon du Chocolat” in Brussels, Belgium. The authors distributed 700 copies and received 456 complete responses (65 percent response rate). Choice experiments were used to estimate the relative importance of different chocolate characteristics and to predict respondents’ willingness to pay for marginal changes in those characteristics. The authors estimate both a conditional logit model and a latent class model to take possible preference heterogeneity into account.

On average, respondents were willing to pay 11 euros more for 250 g fairtrade labeled chocolate compared to conventional chocolate. However, taste clearly dominates ethical considerations. The authors could distinguish three consumer segments, each with a different tradeoff between taste and fairtrade. One group clearly valued fairtrade positively, a second group valued fairtrade to a lesser extent and a third group did not seem to value fairtrade.

Chocolate can be seen as a self-indulgent treat where taste is likely to dominate other characteristics. Therefore it is unsure to what extent ethical factors are included in consumer decisions. Interestingly the results indicate that a significant share of chocolate buyers still positively value fairtrade characteristics when selecting chocolate varieties.

This paper aims to introduce and illustrate how discrete choice experiments (DCEs) can be used by accounting researchers and present an agenda of accounting-related research topics that might usefully benefit from the adoption of DCEs.

Each major phase involved in conducting a DCE is illustrated using a capital budgeting case study. The research agenda is based on a review of experimental research in financial accounting, management accounting and auditing.

DCEs can overcome some of the problems associated with asking decision-makers to rank or rate alternatives. Instead, they ask decision-makers to choose an alternative from a set. DCEs arguably better reflect the realities of real-world decision-making because decision-makers need to make trade-offs between all of the alternatives relevant to a decision. An important advantage that DCEs offer is their ability to calculate willingness-to-pay estimates, which can enable the valuation of non-market goods. Several streams of experimental accounting research would appear well-suited to investigation with DCEs.

While every effort has been made to ensure that this illustration is as generic to as the many potential studies as possible, it may be that researchers seeking to utilise a DCE need to refer to additional literary sources. This study, however, should serve as a useful starting point.

Accounting researchers are expected to benefit from reading this article by being: made aware of the DCE method and its advantages; shown how to conduct a DCE; and provided with an agenda of accounting-related research topics that might usefully benefit from application of the DCE methodology.

It is the authors’ understanding that this is the first article directed to accounting academics regarding the conduct of DCEs for accounting research. It is hoped that this study can provide a useful platform for accounting academics to launch further research adopting DCEs.