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Companies are adopting a more active role in managing their online reputations by using electronic word of mouth (eWOM) and often responding directly to customer reviews. Therefore, companies need to understand the effects of management responses to customer reviews. This study aims to explore whether it is worth responding to reviews and whether expressing gratitude enhances the effects of review responses.

This study uses customer reviews and management response data from a sample of 766 Spanish rural lodging establishments listed on Toprural (www.toprural.com). Analyses are undertaken with NVivo and SmartPLS.

Responding to negative reviews improves lodging establishments’ average ratings, but responding to positive reviews has no significant direct effect. Expressing gratitude in responses positively moderates the effects of review responses; this moderating effect is more significant for responses to negative than to positive reviews.

Previous research provides contradictory evidence about the positive outcomes of a company’s responses; it also does not address expressions of gratitude. This research provides evidence of the direct effects of management response quantity on ratings. It also expands current research on the content characteristics of these responses. The contextual setting for this research, rural tourism, is a key driver of sustainable rural development and a sector in which eWOM is especially relevant; thus, correctly managing the eWOM phenomenon becomes crucial.

Al objeto de mejorar su reputación online, las empresas progresivamente están adoptando un papel más activo ante las reseñas online de los clientes, ofreciendo respuestas online a dichas reseñas. Por tanto, es necesario que las empresas conozcan mejor los efectos de responder online. Este estudio examina si resulta beneficioso responder a las reseñas y si expresar agradecimiento potencia el efecto de responder.

A partir de datos sobre reseñas online de clientes y respuestas de la empresa, correspondientes a una muestra de 766 alojamientos de turismo rural de Toprural (www.toprural.com), se realizan análisis con NVivo y SmartPLS.

Responder a reseñas negativas mejora las puntuaciones medias del establecimiento en Toprural. Sin embargo, responder a reseñas positivas no tiene un efecto directo significativo. Además, expresar agradecimiento en las respuestas modera positivamente el efecto de responder. No obstante, esta moderación es más intensa en el caso de respuestas a reseñas negativas frente a las reseñas positivas.

La investigación previa aporta evidencia contradictoria sobre los efectos de la intensidad de respuesta empresarial a las reseñas online; además, no se ocupa de la expresión de gratitud en particular. Este estudio aporta luz respecto al efecto directo de la intensidad de respuesta sobre las puntuaciones online y amplía la investigación actual sobre las características de contenido de las respuestas. El marco de estudio, el turismo rural, se considera clave para un desarrollo rural sostenible y constituye un escenario donde el boca-oído electrónico es especialmente importante; en consecuencia, gestionar correctamente el fenómeno es crucial.

Palabras clave Boca-oído electrónico, Respuesta empresarial, Reputación online, Turismo rural

Tipo de artículo Trabajo de investigación

Food safety knowledge and hygienic practices by food handlers play an important role in the prevention of contamination of food prepared.

This descriptive survey was conducted in Maseru around the taxi ranks amongst 48 food handlers and 93 consumers using a semi-structured questionnaire for assessing food handler knowledge, attitudes and practices, open-ended questionnaire for obtaining consumer perceptions and observation checklist.

Majority of the food handlers were females (60%) and males constituted only (40%). The mean age was 35.5 ± 10.3 and 28.2 ± 9.9 respectively for street vendors and consumers. There was a statistically significant difference in knowledge among the trained and untrained vendors (p = 0040). On average the vendor population that participated in this study was considered to have poor knowledge (scores < 50%) of food safety since they scored 49% ± 11, while 84% of the respondents were considered to have positive attitudes towards food safety. Only 6% of the consumers reported that they never buy street vended foods mainly due to the hygiene issues. The observation checklist showed that the vendors operated under unhygienic conditions and that there was scarcity of clean water supply and hand washing facilities.

This study provides knowledge that was previously unknown about food vending in Lesotho. It has significantly added to the body of knowledge on food safety in Lesotho which can be used to modify policies and structure food safety training for people involved in the informal trade.

In recent years, much has been discussed about new consumer practices based on the sharing economy. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to map out the international scientific production on sharing economy.

The research adopted a descriptive qualitative approach. Based on a sample of 95 documents collected in the Scopus database, analyses of bibliometric and sociometric indicators were carried out, as well as content analyses were conducted to identify the main thematic categories in the field.

The results show that sharing economy is an emerging topic, and of late, the research in this field has grown rapidly. The study provides a mapping of top journals and authors, works of greatest impact and of co-authorship, co-citation and bibliographic coupling networks, which evidence the low intensity of researcher’s interactions and scientific production dispersion in the field. The main subjects found in the sharing economy literature are determinants, motivations and barriers, sharing economy impacts, regulation, models and frameworks, critical approach and entrepreneurship and sharing-based new businesses.

The analyses did not take into account the timing perspective. Further research could undertake a timeline-based approach in order to present direct citation networks and to relate works according to the year when they were published.

The study innovates by identifying the main subjects in the sharing economy literature, as well as by presenting network analysis for some bibliometric indicators, complementing previous research in the field.

This paper aims to provide a survey of existing literature on the economic impacts of the internet on firm development, and outlines an overall framework of the existing studies. The purpose is to show how the internet affects firm development, which may help policymakers and other researchers to have a better knowledge of existing research characteristics, problems and future directions.

The authors review the studies on the economic impacts of the internet on firm characteristics and external environment, identify the characteristics of the existing literature and problems and discuss the directions of possible future research.

The authors find that the impacts of the internet on firm development mainly display two relevant mechanisms (firm characteristics and external environment), and they can be grouped into six channels (firm innovation, firm business mode, firm performance, firm productivity, firm import and export trade and firm location selection).

This study builds up a framework of how the internet impacts on firm development, which can add value to the future research of firm intelligent transaction modes in the crowd intelligence network.

Large cities are and will continue to become important tourism destinations in foreseeable future. Tourists' motives of the present is the prognosis for their future tourists' behavior. In respond to the longstanding critics in city tourism study, the present research aims to examine the underlying motives of tourists visiting large cities and offer insights into fashioning tourism future for visiting large cities. The identified motives inform three distinct implications fashioning tourism future of large cities.

A quantitative investigation was performed by surveying city tourists. Measurements on the survey form were derived from both scholarly and grey literature in relation to tourists' motivations. 326 valid questionnaires were netted to attain the study aim. Three-quarters of respondents were from Europe, Australia and Pacific. Descriptive analysis and exploratory factor analysis were conducted to achieve the research aims.

Five underlying motives of tourists visiting large cities were revealed: shopping indulgence, urban commons, city icons, cultural and lifestyle and personal advancement. Mapping the findings with a conceptual scheme depicting tourism product in destination, the author revealed a new dimension, urbanity and offered critical reflection on three implications for the tourism future of large cities.

Literature examining city tourists' motives neglect the context-specific measurements while administering the investigation. The research design embraces the urban-specific measurements in the data collection tool, contributing to deeper understanding on how tourism functions in cities. A new dimension, urbanity, which illustrates tourists' motives exclusive in large cities, was identified. Furthermore, three implications fashioning tourism future of large cities are revealed with the support of empirical evidence.

The purpose of this study is to provide the conditions for governance effectiveness and explain why the same rules often result in not the same norms.

The author proposes a “corporate governance culture” concept explaining the differences within corporate governance institutions and making it possible to measure their effectiveness. Based on a literature review that included 186 research studies published in the corporate governance field, the author found that most (160) concern structural numerical variables. Only 26 refer to behavioural and cultural issues, and they support the idea of an interdisciplinary approach to governance problems.

A significant contribution of this paper is that it proposes an integrative framework that operationalises psychological, sociological and philosophical issues that influence corporate governance mechanisms. The proposed concept can reanimate the debate about the need for tight governance regulations or leaving room for a loose governance regime.

The idea of “corporate governance culture” explains the divergences identified in studies on corporate governance mechanisms, pointing out behavioural and cultural issues as crucial aspects of governance bodies.

This study adopts the dynamic capabilities perspective to analyze environmental performance in family firms and explores the moderating effects that both family involvement in the Top Management Team (TMT) and long-term orientation (LTO) exert on the relationship between dynamic capabilities and environmental performance.

The authors test the hypotheses on a database of 748 family tourism firms, using hierarchical regression analysis.

The authors' results show that both variables have a beneficial effect on building the dynamic capabilities to be applied to improving environmental performance. However, the moderating effect of family involvement is revealed to be more complex than that of LTO. Having a high degree of family managerial involvement positively moderates the effect of dynamic capabilities on environmental performance but only in family firms with highly-developed dynamic capabilities; conversely, in family firms with lower levels of dynamic capabilities not having this family involvement in the TMT is better.

This study helps advance the research on Spanish family tourism firms by adopting an approach that unveils the heterogeneity in dynamic capabilities among said firms, driven by the firms' idiosyncratic features in terms of family involvement in the TMT and their LTO. The article also provides practical insights for family business owners, managers and advisors and outlines important directions for future research.

Internal control systems are critical to an organization's efficiency and promotes the adherence to norms and rules. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of internal control systems on banking industry effectiveness.

Data were collected from 15 commercial and 20 rural banks. The hypothesized relationships were supported by the data. A structural equation modeling was applied in testing the conceptual model and hypothesis. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to establish validity and reliability of the dimensions.

The results show that organizational effectiveness was significantly impacted by three dimensions of internal control systems: control activities, control environments and risk assessment. However, the impact of monitoring of control on organizational effectiveness was not significant. The results also show a nonsignificant impact of information and communication on organizational effectiveness.

Since the current study concentrated on the banking sector with its distinct characteristics, the generalizability of the conclusions may be limited.

The study's findings may aid decision-makers and stakeholders in the adoption, designing and implementation of proactive internal control system to enhance operational efficiency, effectiveness and competitive advantage.

The study advances the literature by empirically evidencing that internal control systems impact organizational effectiveness.

This study aims to analyze consumer motivations to share information about corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities through electronic word of mouth. It examines the roles of self-enhancement, identity signaling and social bonding as antecedents of consumers’ CSR engagement on social media.

A quantitative approach is used with a single-factor between-subjects experimental design in which the presence vs absence of CSR information on a company website is manipulated. The hypotheses are tested through structural equation modeling.

Results show that after viewing the company’s CSR message on its website, consumers who generated more CSR associations were more motivated to engage with the CSR information to satisfy fundamental personality traits (need for self-enhancement) and social relationship motivations (social bonding), which increased their intention to share the information.

This study is restricted to CSR information on websites. Further research should consider what happens if such information is shared on social media, as consumers are more likely to spread CSR messages when they are shared by other public social network sites.

The study highlights the relevance of including CSR information on websites and offers insights into the importance of considering consumers in disseminating CSR information. Consumers share information when they have personal motivation for doing so.

This study put the focus on the role of consumers in the diffusion of corporate information.

The results show the importance of personal motivations such as self-enhancement and social bonding in sharing CSR information on social media.

El estudio analiza las motivaciones que tiene el consumidor para compartir información sobre acciones de responsabilidad social corporativa (RSC) a través de boca oído electrónico (eWOM). En particular, las motivaciones de mejora del auto-concepto, necesidad de mostrar una identidad deseada y la vinculación social.

Se utiliza un diseño experimental entre sujetos donde se manipuló la presencia vs ausencia de información sobre la RSC de la empresa. Las hipótesis se contrastaron mediante un modelo de ecuaciones estructurales.

Los resultados muestran que los consumidores con más asociaciones de RSC comparten más la información de RSC motivados por satisfacer la mejora del auto-concepto y vinculación social.

El estudio destaca la importancia de generar contenido de RSC en el sitio web de la empresa, y la importancia de los consumidores en la difusión de información de dicha información.

El estudio está restringido a la presencia de información de RSC en el sitio web de la empresa. Sería interesante evaluar lo que sucede si dicha información se comparte en redes sociales, en la medida en que los consumidores tienen mayor tendencia a compartir la información procedente de redes sociales.

Los resultados muestran la importancia de las motivaciones personales como la mejora del auto-concepto y la vinculación social a la hora compartir información de RSC en las redes sociales.

本研究分析了消费者通过电子口碑分享企业社会责任（CSR）活动信息的动机。它研究了自我提升、身份信号和社会联系作为消费者在社交媒体上参与企业社会责任的前因的作用。

采用单因素主体间实验设计的定量方法, 对公司网站上企业社会责任信息的存在与否进行操纵。假设通过使用R软件包lavaan的结构方程模型进行检验。

结果显示, 在观看公司网站上的企业社会责任信息后, 产生更多企业社会责任联想的消费者更有动力参与到企业社会责任信息中, 以满足基本的人格特征（自我提升的需要）和社会关系动机（社会纽带）, 这增加了他们分享信息的意向。

该研究强调了将企业社会责任信息纳入网站的相关性, 并对在传播企业社会责任信息时考虑消费者的重要性提出了见解。消费者在有个人动机的情况下会分享信息。

本研究仅限于网站上的企业社会责任信息。进一步的研究应该考虑到社交媒体, 因为当消费者在其他公共社交网站上分享企业社会责任信息时, 他们更有可能进行传播。

研究结果表明, 在社交媒体上分享企业社会责任信息时, 自我提升和社会联系等个人动机的重要性。

This paper aims to understand the impact of service quality on corporate image and customer satisfaction. Furthermore, this study also examined the influence of corporate image and customer satisfaction on revisit intention and word of mouth. The mediation effect of corporate image and customer satisfaction on the relationships between service quality–revisit intention and service quality–word of mouth was also examined.

This study used the survey questionnaire method and collected data from 253 respondents comprising of customers who had karaoke singing experience in the Karaoke television (KTV). The partial least squares structural equation modeling was used in this study.

This study found that service quality has a significant positive influence on corporate image and customer satisfaction. Corporate image does not have a significant influence on revisit intention but has a significant positive influence on word of mouth. Furthermore, customer satisfaction has a significant positive influence on revisit intention and word of mouth. The mediation effect of corporate image and customer satisfaction is also found to be significant for most of the relationships.

This study showed the importance of service on customers’ reactions and behaviors in the KTV context, which have not been previously investigated. Businesses should always provide superior service quality to their customers because it impacts their subsequent behaviors such as revisit intention and word of mouth.