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This exploratory study aims to integrate both quantitative and qualitative methods to examine the influence of contemporary university dining attributes and practices on student patronage.

First, a review of the extant literature on-campus dining in universities was conducted. Second, innovative practices of on-campus dining facilities of a large public university were identified. Finally, student perceptions of those practices were examined using a mixed method approach.

The review of literature uncovered 49 articles across 35 years on key topics such as food waste, healthy eating, and service evaluation. From site tours and interviews with related personnel, 40 innovative on-campus dining practices were identified.

Importance ratings revealed cleanliness of the environment, fresh fruit and vegetables, and digitally enabled ordering, as the top three highest rated practices. Factor analysis unveiled six factors that students find important: food diversity, good standards, innovativeness, quick options, menu variety, and fish and seafood. The thematic analysis further revealed four overarching themes (convenience, familiarity, food offerings, and value) and 13 subthemes which complemented the quantitative results.

In addition to shedding post-pandemic light on students’ dining needs, it highlights the paucity of theory used to support extant studies and suggests a novel theoretical underpinning.

This research sought to examine the differential effect of chatbot banking artificial intelligence (AI) on consumer experience in the banking industry. A positivist paradigm was adopted to sample 389 consumers who were previously exposed to chatbot banking in Zimbabwe. A causal research design was employed whilst a quantitative approach was followed. In analysing data, the research study applied the structural equation modelling (SEM) technique. The authors found that chatbot banking significantly improves customer experience (CX) in the banking industry. Reliability and responsiveness of the chatbot need to be enhanced for effective improvements in CX. A need was also identified to enhance CX through the development of an ease-to-use chatbot which is embedded in everyday messaging applications of consumers. A significant association was also found between perceived benefits of chatbot banking and CX. This study informs the development of competitive advantage by banks and other related companies through AI-based CX management strategies. In times of pandemics and beyond, chatbot banking can be very instrumental in improving CX.

The concept of sustainable product design (SPD) is gaining significant attention in recent research. However, due to inherent uncertainties associated with new product development and incorporation of multiple qualitative and quantitative criteria; SPD is a complex and challenging task. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a novel approach by integrating quality function deployment (QFD), multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) technique and Six Sigma evaluation for facilitating SPD in the context of Industry 4.0.

The customer requirements are evaluated through the neutrosophic-decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory-analytic network process (DEMATEL-ANP)-based approach followed by utilizing QFD matrix to estimate the weights of the engineering characteristics (EC). The Six Sigma method is then employed to evaluate the alternatives’ design based on the ECs’ values.

The effectiveness of the suggested approach is illustrated through an example. The result indicates that utilization of the neutrosophic MCDM technique with integration of Six Sigma methodology provides a simple, effective and computationally inexpensive method for SPD.

The proposed approach is helpful in upstream evaluation of the product design with limited experimental/numerical data, maintaining a strong competitive position in the market and enhancing customer satisfaction.

This work provides a novel approach to objectively quantify performance of SPD under the paradigm of Industry 4.0 using the integration of QFD-based hybrid MCDM with Six Sigma method.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Wine tourism is gaining increasing popularity among Chinese tourists, making it necessary to thoroughly examine tourist behavior. While online reviews posted by wine tourists have been extensively studied from the perspectives of destinations and wineries, the perspective of the tourists themselves has been overlooked. To address this gap, this study aims to identify significant attributes intrinsic to the tourism experiences of Chinese wine tourists by adopting a text-mining approach from a tourist-centric perspective.

The authors use topic modeling to extract these attributes, calculate topic intensity to understand tourists’ attention distribution across these attributes and conduct topical sentiment analysis to evaluate tourists’ satisfaction levels with each attribute. The authors perform importance-performance analyses (IPAs) using topic intensity and sentiment scores. Furthermore, the authors conduct semistructured in-depth interviews with Chinese wine tourists to gain insights into the underlying reasons behind the key findings.

The study identifies eleven attributes for domestic wine tourists and seven attributes for outbound wine tourists. From the reviews of both domestic and outbound tourists, three common attributes have been identified: “scenic view”, “wine tasting and purchase” and “wine knowledge”.

According to the results of the IPAs, there is a pressing need for enhancements in the wine tasting and purchasing experience at domestic wine attractions. Additionally, managers of domestic wine attractions should continue to prioritize the positive aspects of the family trip experience and scenic views. On the other hand, for outbound wine attractions, it is crucial for managers to maintain their efforts in providing opportunities for wine knowledge acquisition, ensuring scenic views and upholding the reputation of wine regions.

First, this study breaks new ground by adopting a tourist-centric perspective to extract significant attributes from real wine tourism reviews. Second, the authors conduct a comparative analysis between Chinese wine tourists who travel domestically and those who travel abroad. The third novel aspect of this study is the application of IPA based on textual review data in the context of wine tourism. Fourth, by integrating topic modeling with qualitative interviews, the authors use a mixed-method approach to gain deeper insights into the experiences of Chinese wine tourists.

To influence consumer pre-purchase decision-making processes, such as brand selection and perceived brand experience, brands are interested in adopting hyperconnected technological stimuli, such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality, social media and tech devices. However, the understanding of different hyperconnected touchpoints remained shallow and results mixed in previous literature, despite the fact that these touchpoints span different technological interfaces/devices and may influence consumer brand selection. This paper aims to solidify the conceptual underpinnings of the role of online hyperconnected stimuli, which may influence consumer psychological reactions in terms of brand selection and experience.

This paper is conceptual and presents a discussion based on extant literature from various international publishers.

The authors revealed different technological stimuli in the online hyperconnected environment that may influence consumer online hyperconnected brand selection (OHBS), perceived online hyperconnected brand experience (OHBE), perceived well-being and behavioral intention.

The conceptual understanding of OHBS and perceived OHBE was mixed and inconsistent in previous studies. This paper brings together extant literature to establish the conceptual understanding of antecedents and outcomes of OHBS, i.e. perceived OHBE, perceived well-being and behavioral intention, and presents a cohesive conceptual framework.

This paper aims to help higher education institutions (HEIs) develop a better understanding of student support and services needs, thereby enabling them to allocate limited resources for initiatives that effectively improve student experience.

An assessment framework following the Kano analysis is developed to categorize student service features based on customer satisfaction and need fulfillment. The framework is used at a local university, using 23 service features listed as minimum requirements by the national regulatory body for education. Analysis of the satisfaction survey results and prioritization are based on quality indices derived from a factor of importance and the satisfaction gap. A survey was conducted for two academic years to generate a comparison of results.

Of the list mandated as minimum requirements for HEIs, the study revealed that no features were regarded as “must-be,” eight as performing, 14 as attractive and one as indifferent by the students. As these results were disaggregated per year level, the natural decay of delight as in the Kano theory was exhibited as there were less attractive features for students who have been in the university longest. After a full-year academic cycle, results compared to the baseline figures seemed to reveal of impact of the achievement of performance targets by the units rendering specific activities on client satisfaction.

Further rounds of the study are needed to build up more data sets on the relationship between objective performance and satisfaction level for performing features, mindful that this categorization is also bound to change along the way.

As HEIs in the Philippines journey towards the establishment of their own respective internal quality assurance systems, this study provides a practical approach for institutions to transform a mere list of student services for compliance into a strategic tool to enhance the student experience.

In the context of continuous quality improvement, the study presents how the qualitative Kano model, along with simple quantitative tools in the methodology, can be utilized not only in the planning stage of service design but also in closing the planning, doing, checking and acting (PDCA) cycle and opening the quality improvement spiral.

This study aims to quantitatively consolidate the research conducted over the past four decades on how internal branding activities drive employee commitment. It summarizes several operationalizations of internal branding and tests the moderating effect of employee’s personal characteristics and job characteristics on the relationship between internal branding and employee commitment.

This paper uses meta-analysis as the research methodology. The analysis includes a sample of 65 studies (from 62 published works), yielding 226 effect sizes (coded into 82 composite effect sizes) over an aggregated sample of 21,706 respondents.

This study finds that brand communication, brand-centered human resource management (HRM), training and development, organizational support and culture, brand-centered leadership and an excellent reward system are the key operationalizations of internal branding. Furthermore, employee’s personal (education, age and gender) and job (tenure, work status and level of customer orientation) characteristics significantly moderate the internal branding–employee commitment relationship.

Limited empirical literature on some of the internal branding operationalizations such as brand-centered HRM and rewards has curbed the scope of moderator analysis.

This paper proposes some effective ways of implementing internal branding strategies and provides support for boundary conditions that brand managers should consider to strengthen the impact of internal branding activities on employee commitment.

As per the authors’ knowledge, this paper is among the few quantitative consolidations of four decades of research on the internal branding–employee commitment relationship.

Driven by Davis’s (1989) technology acceptance model (TAM) and Westaby’s (2005) behavioral reasoning theory (BRT), the purpose of this study is to develop and test a conceptual model and examine consumers’ acceptance of artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots for apparel shopping.

Data from 353 eligible US respondents was collected through a self-administered questionnaire distributed on Amazon Mechanical Turk, an online panel. Confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis were used to test all hypothesized relationships using the structural equation model.

The results show that optimism and relative advantage of “reasons for” dimensions have a positive and significant influence on perceived ease of use (PEU), while innovativeness and relative advantage have a positive and significant influence on perceived usefulness (PUF). Discomfort and insecurity have no significant impact on PEU and PUF. However, complexity has a negative and significant impact on PEU but not on PUF. Additionally, PEU has a positive influence on PUF. Both PEU and PUF have a positive and significant influence on consumers’ attitudes toward using AI chatbots, which, in turn, affects the intention to use AI chatbots for apparel shopping. Overall, this study identifies that optimism, innovativeness and relative advantage are enablers and good reasons to adopt AI chatbots. Complexity is a prohibitor, making it the only reason against adopting AI chatbots for apparel shopping.

This study contributes to the literature by integrating TAM and BRT to develop a research model to understand what “reasons for” and “reasons against” factors are enablers or prohibitors that significantly impact consumers’ attitude and intention to use AI chatbots for apparel shopping through PEU and PUF.

This study aims to determine whether or not fashion retail brands can maintain their essence by providing personalized care through conventional face-to-face interactions or the use of e-services.

An exploratory investigation is being conducted to attain this goal. According to the findings of this research, Chatbots have an impact on consumer loyalty. The quality of a Chatbot’s system, service and information are all critical to providing a positive consumer experience.

The study concluded that Chatbot e-services might potentially enable dynamic and fascinating interactions between firms and their consumers. To personalize a Chatbot, firms might change the tone of the language used. Customers are more likely to use a Chatbot if it resembles a real person, which increases their pleasure and confidence in the product.

More precisely, the emphasis of the inquiry was on Chatbot, a relatively new digital tool that offers user-friendly, personalized and one-of-a-kind support to customers. Using information supplied by consumers, the authors examine a five-dimensional model that gauges how customers feel about Chatbots in terms of their ability to communicate with users, offer amusement, be trendy, personalize interactions and solve problems.