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The purpose of this study is to identify the role played by external knowledge sources and intra-organizational collaboration as determinants of innovation in hotel firms. It proposes that local knowledge sources and intra-organizational collaboration determine the probability of producing incremental innovations, and that non-local knowledge sources determine the introduction of radical innovations.

Descriptive statistics made it possible to evaluate the importance of each of the external sources as the origin of ideas for innovation. Principal component analysis was used to find homogeneous groups based on the different knowledge sources contemplated. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine which variables predict a hotel’s capacity to introduce innovations.

The findings suggest a dissociation between innovations adopted by directly incorporating the specific knowledge provided by external agents and innovations that require the mediation of intra-organizational collaboration for their development.

Future qualitative studies can provide data that would considerably improve the understanding of how innovation processes are produced in hotel companies based on the use of external knowledge and how hotel firms develop spaces to exchange and combine internal knowledge.

Hotel firms can adopt innovations by incorporating specific knowledge from external companies or by developing their own innovations based on information gathered from external agents or events (e.g. customers, attending trade fairs and professional conferences). The transformation of this information into innovations requires the establishment of internal communication channels that foment employees’ collaboration and exchange of information.

The study provides empirical evidence for the relevant role played by both external agents and intra-organizational relationships as sources of knowledge to foster innovation in hotel firms. External agents are classified as local and non-local sources, and their effect on innovation is analyzed, distinguishing between incremental and radical innovations.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of knowledge resources on marketing innovation and the way learning capability mediates this relationship. In addition, it evaluates the effect of marketing innovation on the financial performance of hotel firms.

Data from a survey conducted in companies that operate hotel establishments are analyzed using structural equation modelling (SEM). The SEM technique makes it possible to evaluate the multiple and intersected relationships existing among the variables under study.

Collective knowledge has a direct influence on marketing innovation and an indirect effect through the learning capability, but the influence of the knowledge held by individuals on marketing innovation is exercised through the learning capability. In turn, both the learning capability and marketing innovation favor the financial performance of hotel firms.

The study shows that intangible resources play an important role in achieving marketing innovation and financial performance. Because the hospitality industry is composed of firms with different characteristics, it would be relevant to confirm the model in other hospitality businesses. Future studies could analyze possible links between marketing innovation and other types of performance.

Hotel firms can reach higher performance levels if they invest in developing the employees’ knowledge and, fundamentally, in fomenting a higher level of collective knowledge related to the business environment in general. Likewise, the learning capability plays a relevant role in achieving performance in hotels firms.

To date, studies on innovation in the field of hospitality have mainly focused on developing new services, while other types of innovation, such as marketing innovation, have taken a backseat. Likewise, the hospitality literature has paid little attention to knowledge assets. This study deals with both topics, analyzing knowledge resources and the learning capability as possible antecedents of marketing innovation activities. Furthermore, the effect of marketing innovation on the firm’s performance is evaluated.

This work proposes to study the phenomenon of fashion not as being evolutionary but as a consumption response that is mediated by consumers having a certain perception of time. This work also proposes not only that the temporal dimension seems to be essential in the process of fashion adoption but also that emotional aspects are predominant.

An empirical work was conducted based on structural equation modelling with a sample of 341 individuals, using path modelling with a multi‐group analysis.

The empirical results show that the needs for social acceptance not only do not arouse interest in new tendencies but even entail unpleasant emotions such as anxiety. Moreover, fashion is more emotionally positive if it has the quality of future.

Not only would it be profitable to promote involvement with fashion by transmitting the importance of others, but also the use of social needs in advertising could be unethical since it would generate unease in the consumer. Since it is clear that, in fashion, an orientation to the past is accompanied by an increase in negative emotions, it seems logical to reject designers who praise classic styles without offering anything new.

The work studies the phenomenon of fashion not as being evolutionary but as a consumption response that is mediated by consumers having a certain perception of time.

The objective of this research is not only to provide a new theoretical framework to overcome doctrinal inconsistencies related to the reward recycling technique but also to empirically contrast the proposed explanations.

This research follows a quasi‐experimental design. This type of treatment comprises the application of a draw‐based prize technique. A questionnaire was issued to gather the information from a sample with 123 individuals. The approach is quantitative.

It was found that recycling behaviour has become a routine or habit with recognized awareness of ecology and recycling, but without a high level of involvement, since today's adoption process does not require such effort. This implies that the efficacy of the reward technique has been transformed and consequently its effects must be understood differently. To be specific, responders and non‐responders are similar, in terms of their levels of beliefs about recycling, ecological concern and involvement with recycling, and both show the same model of adoption with a low hierarchy of effect and with a few minor differences. Nevertheless there is only one difference between sustainers and non‐sustainers, namely, the sustainers’ greater ecological concern before the promotion application.

The non‐existence of a control group is a limitation with the result that the validity of the experiment is not being totally checked.

This research provides some empirical evidence challenging some old presumptions concerning the understanding of recycling.

This work centers on the study of the image of universities, with the aims of explaining the process of image forming by means of its different components, both in its cognitive and affective dimensions and of analyzing its relationship with the students’ satisfaction with the university. The results of the empirical work carried out on a representative sample of 6,775 students studying at a Spanish university demonstrate that the cognitive component of image is an antecedent of the affective component. In turn, both of those components influence the forming of the overall image of the university and the cognitive, affective and overall images statistically and significantly influence the students’ satisfaction with the university.

The purpose of this paper is, as the health benefits of breastfeeding for mother and child have already been fully ascertained, to highlight the differences on why short- and long-term breastfeeding mothers adopt their respective behaviours. Based on these findings, a model for long-term breastfeeding is put forward here. The aim is to identify the specific variables and processes that create confidence during the early days in breastfeeding mothers so that social marketing campaigns can be deployed more effectively to sustain this behaviour over time.

The validity and reliability of the scales used were tested using Cronbach’s alpha and exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Differences in cognition, attitudes and behaviour with respect to breastfeeding between the short- and long-term breastfeeding mothers were analysed with ANOVA and multi-group structural equation modelling. An independent self-administered questionnaire was given to 311 breastfeeding mothers in 2008. The surveys were carried out at the Maternity Hospital together with five other medical centres on the island of Gran Canaria (5 per cent error and 95 per cent reliability). This can be considered to be a fair representation of trends in breastfeeding in Spain, as most births take place in similar state hospitals.

As expected, short- and long-term breastfeeding mothers differed over the key variables. While attitudes toward, and knowledge of, breastfeeding produce the adoption of breastfeeding, long-term commitment seems to relate more to general knowledge on health and other intangibles.

In light of these results, specific marketing efforts should be designed to achieve the continuation of breastfeeding. Interventions that focus on attitudes toward, and knowledge of, breastfeeding may prove ineffective.

As many worldwide research projects suggest, the extremely large percentage of mothers who discontinue breastfeeding before the infant reaches six months of age represent a greater challenge than the relatively low percentage of mothers who choose not to breastfeed from the beginning. This paper focuses on long-term commitment and outlines a possible model to promote the same.