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1 – 10 of 51Robin B. DiPietro, Kimberly Harris and Dan Jin
The purpose of this study was to investigate restaurant employee behaviors and their likelihood of intervening when witnessing food safety threats.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to investigate restaurant employee behaviors and their likelihood of intervening when witnessing food safety threats.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed method was used for this study with the focus group interview and survey questionnaire. A total of eight focus groups ranging in number of participants from to 6 to 12 were asked to respond to presented scenarios that depicted restaurant employees committing food safety risk behaviors and threats in the restaurant environment that would present food safety risks such as out-of-stock bathroom supplies, dirty tables in the restaurant dining area, employee personal hygiene issues and unclean production equipment. These participants were also asked to complete a draft of the survey that would later be edited and distributed to the sample population.
Findings
Results suggest that social norms and perceived severity of threats impact the likelihood that restaurant employees will intervene. Implications for academics and practitioners are discussed.
Originality/value
This study was special as it provides a synthetic viewpoint that considers how service organizations can work to do a better job of interviewing employees before starting their jobs about their beliefs and personal practices of food safety at home, their previous work in the restaurant industry and food safety culture that they may have worked in before, as well as increasing the communication in restaurants to build a food safety culture. These practices can help to lower risks to the public regarding food safety and can help to build relationship trust in the brands that we all love to indulge in when dining out.
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Michela Cesarina Mason, Gioele Zamparo and Rubens Pauluzzo
Using retail banking as a setting and focusing specifically on elderly customers (i.e. individuals aged 60 or more), this study aims to deepen the current understanding of how the…
Abstract
Purpose
Using retail banking as a setting and focusing specifically on elderly customers (i.e. individuals aged 60 or more), this study aims to deepen the current understanding of how the physical context and the need for human interaction influence elderly customers' attitudes toward self-service technologies (SSTs) and their behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
Using face-to-face questionnaires, a sample of 505 elderly bank customers was collected. Data were analyzed using a multi-method approach, combining a moderated mediation analysis with a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis.
Findings
The findings suggest that a pleasant retail space may result in a positive attitude toward SSTs, which increases their co-creation intention. It also highlights that need for interaction of elderly customers with employees has detrimental effects on their attitude toward SSTs.
Research limitations/implications
The current analysis was carried out among Italian elderly banks' customers. Thus, the results are highly dependent on the context of the analysis. In addition, it does not consider the different degrees of knowledge and experience the elderly may have with technology.
Practical implications
This study suggests that providing access and support for using technology may be essential for banks to facilitate SSTs adoption in elderly customers.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study represents the first attempt to examine the influence of the physical context on elderly customers' attitudes toward SSTs and their consequent behavioral intentions. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of the human touch for these particular customers.
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Isabelle Cristina Galindo Curvelo, Eluiza Alberto de Morais Watanabe and Solange Alfinito
The consumption of organic food increases worldwide, which raises the need for studies that try to understand the variables that affect the consumption of this kind of food. The…
Abstract
Purpose
The consumption of organic food increases worldwide, which raises the need for studies that try to understand the variables that affect the consumption of this kind of food. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of attributes, consumer trust and perceived value on purchase intention of organic food.
Design/methodology/approach
A descriptive quantitative research was conducted through a survey of 247 valid cases of organic food consumers. For the purposes of analysis, exploratory factorial and linear regression analyzes were chosen.
Findings
Exploratory factor analysis showed that all tested constructs were valid for the Brazilian context. Linear regression analyses showed that emotional value, consumer trust and the attribute “sensory appeal” affect the purchase intention of organic food. Emotional value had a stronger relationship and sensory appeal showed a negative relationship with purchase intention.
Practical implications
Research results can help managers increase the likelihood of buying organic foods through strategic marketing management focused on emotional value and sensory appeal factors.
Originality/value
The study offers value to the study of organic foods in view that this theme is not much explored in the Brazilian scenario even with the market in an increasing pattern, as well as the combination of perceived value, attributes, trust and purchase intention as variables in a single prediction model.
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Angel F. González, Catherine Curtis, Isaac J. Washburn and Abhijeet R. Shirsat
The purpose of this paper is to empirically test an existing conceptual model from Mak et al. (2012a, 2012b) to discern which factors have the most influence on food choices when…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to empirically test an existing conceptual model from Mak et al. (2012a, 2012b) to discern which factors have the most influence on food choices when travelers visit destinations with different options, i.e. local foods, other than those available in their home environments.
Design/methodology/approach
The quantitative study surveyed 330 travelers and used descriptive analyses of all the variables involved. A hierarchical linear regression was calculated to predict for the dependent variable of local cuisine consumption, based on the independent variables of culture and religion, socio-demographic factors, motivational factors, food trait personality and exposure effect/past experience.
Findings
Culture, motivational factors and food-related personality traits were consistently significant predictors of local food consumption.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations include using an English-only online questionnaire and self-reported bias. The impacting delimitation relates to data collection from US travelers and thus limiting generalizability findings.
Practical implications
The study explained factors involved in travelers’ decision to consume local foods at a destination. Government, tourism-related organizations, producers and service providers gain information to improve products, increase interest, create additional employment opportunities, increase tax revenues that assist local communities and increase consumption of local foods, products and services.
Originality/value
The limited availability of research on this topic prompted the interest of the researchers. Mak et al. (2012b) provide a conceptual model that was first tested empirically in this study. It presents a five factors impacting tourist food consumption at a destination. Local food consumption of tourists was tested using the aforementioned conceptual model.
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Lucia Pizzichini, Valerio Temperini and Gian Luca Gregori
This paper aims to identify what ethical attributes tourists associate with national parks’ brands shown on food souvenir labels and the influence of such attributes on purchase…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to identify what ethical attributes tourists associate with national parks’ brands shown on food souvenir labels and the influence of such attributes on purchase motivations.
Design/methodology/approach
An exploratory study was carried out involving a total of 102 Italian tourists, who were interviewed at two different souvenir shops in Italy. Respondents were first asked to describe what images and values they were associating with the visited Italian National Park. The second level of questions related to the association of food products with national parks and the purchase motivations of food products branded with the national park’s label. The ethical attributes associated with the national parks’ brands and their relevance in purchase motivations were detected and analyzed through content analysis.
Findings
The analysis of the national park brand allows highlighting the food souvenir role in communicating ethical values that influence the perceived quality of food as well as tourists’ purchase motivations. The analysis reveals interesting implications for the enhancement of local productions in tourist destinations, more specifically, how the place brand can act as a valuable communication tool. Particular attention is given to the crucial role that national parks’ brands play in strengthening the value proposition of small businesses located within parks. This vision must be implemented from the perspective of mutual promotion of local food and tourism in these parks.
Originality/value
The results of this paper contributed to the literature by filling the gap regarding the role of place brands in promoting food souvenirs.
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Dragan Vukolic, Tamara Gajić and Mirjana Penic
To evaluate some of the current discussions about the possible impacts of social networks on the development of gastronomy in the Republic of Serbia. There could be either…
Abstract
Purpose
To evaluate some of the current discussions about the possible impacts of social networks on the development of gastronomy in the Republic of Serbia. There could be either positive and/or negative impacts and this viewpoint provides some reflection on what the future might hold for some if not many tourism destinations in Serbia and the region when the tourism industry restarts after the pandemic of Covid-19 virus.
Design/methodology/approach
The research was conducted in December 2021, on a total of 244 respondents in three cities in Serbia. SPSS software was used, version 26.00, and the obtained data were analyzed by descriptive statistics. Then, to determine the structure of the questionnaire and the percentage of variance, an exploratory factor analysis was performed together with a higher order factor analysis, in order to obtain the desired number of factors. Subsequently, the authors used multiple regression analysis to confirm the significance of the predictors. The goal of the research was to determine whether, and to what extent, social networks can predict the choice of restaurants and gastronomic offers in Serbia. Serbian gastronomy has a great influence on the development of tourism, so this research has a wide scientific and practical contribution.
Findings
This paper provides a context and viewpoint on the possible implications of impacts of social networks on the development of gastronomy in the Republic of Serbia in the future. It has been proven that social networks can have an impact on the development of gastronomy and tourism itself.
Research limitations/implications
To examine the impact of social networks on the development of gastronomy, the authors conducted a survey online due to the current Covid-19 pandemic. The limitation of this research was precisely that the authors did not have the opportunity to conduct the research live due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It is recommended that such surveys be conducted live in direct contact with respondents in the future in order to obtain a larger sample with fully completed questionnaires.
Practical implications
The importance of social networks is increasingly a topic of study of world research, especially when it comes to gastronomy, which is becoming increasingly important as an activity in the tourism industry. The results indicate that the greatest importance in predicting the choice of restaurants and gastronomic offers has social networks and marketing. The importance of the work is reflected in the recognition of the importance of social networks, in order to better place Serbian gastronomy.
Social implications
This paper offers a synthesis of views that fosters an understanding of the possibility of impacts of social networks on the development of gastronomy in the Republic of Serbia before and after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Originality/value
The viewpoint proffered in this paper provides scope for a rapid evaluation of the current status of gastronomy tourism in Serbia which can help practitioners and researchers in the faster and better development of gastronomy and tourism.
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Puneet Kaur, Amandeep Dhir, Shalini Talwar and Karminder Ghuman
The theory of consumption values (TCV) has successfully explained much consumer choice behavior, but few studies have investigated the values that drive food-delivery application…
Abstract
Purpose
The theory of consumption values (TCV) has successfully explained much consumer choice behavior, but few studies have investigated the values that drive food-delivery application (FDA) use. This study aims to bridge this gap by extending the TCV to the FDA context to examine food consumption-related values and interpreting and rechristening generic consumption values to adapt the TCV to the FDA context.
Design/methodology/approach
An explorative mixed-method research approach was taken to conduct focus group discussions with 20 target users to develop the questionnaire and then administer it for a cross-sectional survey (pen and pencil) to FDA users aged 22–65 years; 423 complete responses so received were analyzed using structural equation modeling.
Findings
The findings show that epistemic value (“visibility”) is the chief driver of purchase intentions toward FDAs, followed by conditional (“affordances”), price (part of functional value) and social value (“prestige”). Food-safety concerns and health consciousness (proposed as part of functional value) did not share any statistically significant association with purchase intentions toward FDAs.
Research limitations/implications
The findings of this study are insightful for FDA service providers competing for higher shares in the market by helping them understand ways to influence consumer choices and purchase intentions.
Originality/value
It is the first study that combines FDAs 2014 an online service that it is attracting a lot of investment 2014and TCV which has continued to be one of the most relevant theories of consumer behavior. It extends the TCV by adapting it to the FDA context with food-consumption-related values. Thus, it adds to the relatively scant literature on FDAs on the whole which is essential, as FDAs represent the business model of new economy, i.e. online-to-offline (O2O). Finally, this study formulates a conceptual framework that may serve as the basis of future research.
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Erose Sthapit, Peter Björk and Senthilkumaran Piramanayagam
This study aims to explore non-Muslim tourists’ general halal food preferences, motivations for tasting halal food during their recent trips, positive and negative emotions and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore non-Muslim tourists’ general halal food preferences, motivations for tasting halal food during their recent trips, positive and negative emotions and memorable dimensions associated with their recent halal food experiences after returning from holiday.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected using the authors’ personal networks and Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) using a questionnaire. An email containing a link to the questionnaire was sent to the authors’ personal networks and posted on MTurk in January 2021.
Findings
Of the 311 non-Muslim respondents, more than half considered themselves as food neophiliacs and considered halal food experiences as imperative whilst travelling. However, tasting halal food was not a major travel motivation. Novelty and taste were the two main motivations for tasting halal food whilst at a tourism destination. Emotions elicited by halal food experiences focussed on “joy” and “love”. The proposed conceptual framework for memorable halal food experiences comprises several dimensions: taste, spending time with family and friends, novelty, quality and safety, hospitality, ambience (setting/servicescape) and experiencing others’ culture through food.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies to explore non-Muslim tourists’ motives, emotions and memorable dimensions of halal food experiences.
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