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The purpose of this paper is to review the literature regarding negative information’s impact on consumer behavior in the context of tourism services. In addition, this paper empirically examines the likely difference between first-time and repeat tourists in terms of their: resistance to negative information.

Using a sample of 539 visitors to Mount Yuelu, a popular tourist destination in China, this study explores the differences between first-time and repeat tourists regarding how destination social responsibility (DSR) and service quality (SQ) influence tourist resistance to negative information.

The effect of SQ on resistance to negative information is stronger for repeat tourists than for first-time tourists. In addition, the study identifies that DSR and SQ have a positive impact on tourists’ resistance to negative information. Finally, findings indicate that destination identification partially mediates the relationship between DSR, SQ and tourists’ response to negative information, respectively.

The findings provide valuable theoretical and empirical insights into the driving factors that influence consumer resistance to negative information.

The paper brings together DSR, SQ and tourist-destination identification to better understand the impact that visitation frequency (first-time versus repeat tourists) has on how tourists resist negative information about a tourist destination.

Negative information that is generated about a destination may cause the number of future tourism visits to decline. Findings of this paper provide insight as to the framework that can make tourists more resistant to said negative information.

This study contributes to the services marketing and tourism literature by investigating the degree to which DSR and SQ affect tourist resistance to negative information as mediated by tourist-destination identification and moderated by visiting frequency.

This study aims to examine the relationship between tourism development and economic growth while considering exports simultaneously. Governments in many countries have been developing and deploying strategies to attract tourism receipts as a means for economic growth. However, assessing the potential impact of tourism on economic growth among large economies is still in its infancy.

Using a vector error correction model framework, this study examines the relationship among exports, gross domestic product (GDP) and tourism receipts (including international tourism receipts and domestic tourism receipts in two separate models) with macro data that covers two recent decades (1994-2013) in China.

The empirical findings confirm the existence of a long-term equilibrium relationship in each of these two tri-variate models. The empirical findings reveal that (1) both tourism-led-growth and export-led-growth hypotheses are supported, (2) the growth rate of tourism receipts exhibit a higher relevance with GDP growth than export growth and (3) the growth rate of international tourism shows a higher relevance with GDP growth than domestic tourism growth.

Using macroeconomic data collected by the Chinese government, the current study employs an advanced econometric methodology to explore the potential benefits of tourism on economic growth in China.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating effect of functional value and symbolic value between positive moods and word-of-mouth (WOM) referrals in the context of Taiwan’s banking industry. In addition, this study investigates the moderating effect of relational benefits on the relationship between perceived value and WOM.

The research model was tested using data collected from customers (n=362) of the top 10 domestic banks in Taiwan. Structure equation modeling was employed to test and validate the conceptual model.

Positive moods are found to be an important predictor of functional value, symbolic value and WOM in this banking service study. Four types of relational benefits are identified including social, special treatment, confidence and face. Note that two distinct segments of bank customers are identified in terms of relational benefits: those who appreciate face benefits (n₁=169), and those who appreciate general relational benefits (n₂=193). The findings reveal the existence of partial mediation between a banking customer’s mood and WOM through functional value and symbolic value in the overall sample (n=362). However, it was found that functional value partially mediates the influence of positive moods on WOM among respondents in the “general relational benefits” segment only. That is, relational benefits are found to moderate the relationship between functional value and WOM.

This study expands the existing body of knowledge on customers’ perceptions of value by differentiating types of value perceptions.

This paper re‐examines recent claims in the literature that foreign trade (economic openness) plays no role in the Taiwanese economic growth once human capital is taken into account. We show that such a claim lacks weight and is primarily the outcome of model misspecification. In the context of properly specified models, results from cointegration, error‐correction models, and variance decompositions all suggest that economic openness is a significant catalyst of growth in Taiwan over and above any growth contribution of human capital accumulation.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of the sequential combination of consumer experiences on product knowledge and brand attitude. Additionally, the moderating role of desire for unique consumer products (DUCP) was also discussed.

Four types of sequential combinations of consumer experiences were designed: exposure to escapist virtual experience preceding direct experience (VEescapist→DE), exposure to education virtual experience preceding direct experience (VEeducation→DE), exposure to escapist virtual experience preceding indirect experience (VEescapist→IDE), and exposure to education virtual experience preceding indirect experience (VEeducation→IDE). A total of 302 undergraduate college students in Taiwan participated in this study.

The results revealed that DUCP moderated the sequential combination of consumer experiences on product knowledge. For the high level of DUCP, there are significant differences among the effects of the sequential combination of consumer experiences on product knowledge. Specifically, it was found that VEescapist→IDE produces the highest product knowledge while VEeducation→DE produces the lowest product knowledge. Regarding the low level of DUCP, there are not significant differences among the effects of sequential combination of consumer experiences on product knowledge.

This study extended the studies of Daugherty et al. (2008), Pine and Gilmore (1999), and Keng et al. (2012) to further explore the effects of the sequential combination of experiences.

The purpose of this study is to explore the impacts of service encounters on customer experiential value and subsequently on customer behavioral intentions in a shopping mall context in Taiwan.

Data were gathered using mall intercepts at three large shopping malls in northern Taiwan. Structural equation modeling was employed to assess the proposed research model empirically.

The empirical results revealed that: personal interaction encounters positively influenced perceptions of efficiency and excellence value; physical environment encounters positively affected perceptions of playfulness and aesthetics; and all dimensions of customer experiential value (i.e. efficiency, service excellence, playfulness, and aesthetics) positively affected customer behavioral intentions.

Following Bitner's suggestion in 1990, the present study classified service encounters into two dimensions – personal interaction encounters and physical environment encounters. Further, the empirical findings revealed that customer experiential value mediated the relationship between service encounters and consumer behavioral intentions.

The purpose of this paper is to better understand the relationships between the paradoxes of social networking sites (SNSs) and users' loyalty toward these websites.

This study surveyed 180 students enrolled in graduate and/or undergraduate level classes in three different universities in the Midwest and Southwest regions of the USA. The structural equation modelling (SEM) technique was employed to analyze data and examine the conceptual model proposed in the current study.

The results suggest that the paradoxes of social networking sites (assimilation/isolation and competence/incompetence) are significant antecedents of online social networking pleasure and loyalty. Furthermore, the results suggest that pleasure mediates the relationships between paradoxes of social networking sites and loyalty toward social networking sites.

A sustainable business strategy for SNSs would be to maintain a safe environment that on one hand promotes continuous innovations and on the other hand facilitates desired feelings such as fun, pleasure, and adventure. Results based on student sample suggest more works are needed to generalize the findings.

This study points out online communication technologies (e.g., SNSs) are a double‐edged sword for consumers. Marketers need to manage consumers' feeling and experiences effectively.

This study with few other studies extends social marketing literature by offering theoretical and statistical evidence regarding how paradoxes of SNSs impact users' experience. Specifically, this study addresses the underlying reasons that may cause SNS users decrease their participation over time, and the role of SNS users' feelings play in forming their overall SNS usage experiences.

The purpose of this paper is to study the interrelationships among grocery store image, travel distance (TD), customer satisfaction, and behavioral intentions (BI) in a college town setting.

Surveys are given to undergraduate college student grocery shoppers in a Midwest college town. The 400 usable questionnaires are randomly divided into two parts: one subsample was used for exploratory factor analysis while the other (larger) subsample was used for confirmatory factor analysis and subsequently the structural path analysis.

Grocery store image is identified as a second‐order construct reflected by the three key components of merchandise attributes (MEA), store ambience and service (SAS), and marketing attractiveness (MGA). Although store image is an important driver of BI, its indirect effect through customer satisfaction is found to be substantially greater than its direct effect on BI. Interestingly, TD is positively related to satisfaction, which highlights the possibility for retailers to overcome the distance disadvantage.

As few studies have attempted to characterize the US grocery market in terms of the reasons for their choice, this exploratory study is unique because it investigates grocery shopping behavior in a traditional American college town. Specifically, the distinctive market factors (e.g. the relative scarcity of grocery retailers, their distance from campus, and the mix of grocer types in or around the Midwest college town) add value and contribute to the retailing literature.

This paper aims to investigate the possibility that the typology of a service as well as the operationalization of the service measurement scale may determine the nature of the service quality (SQ) construct and its relationship with those of customer satisfaction (SAT) and behavioral intentions (BI).

The study utilized the service classification scheme developed by Schmenner and concentrated on the mass service category as an example to illustrate the concept with data from retail banking.

Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that “Responsiveness,” “Tangibility,” “Reliability,” “Knowledge,” and “Accessibility” dimensions contribute significantly to service quality. It was further observed that SAT fully mediates the impact of SQ on BI.

A notable limitation is that the present study focuses only on mass service and uses only one industry (retail banking) to illustrate the findings. Future research should examine other service categories.

Service managers in the mass service category are recommended to devise operations and marketing strategies that focus on the SQ dimensions which can enhance customer satisfaction and, in turn, foster positive behavioral intentions.

This study presents a methodology for developing an operationizable service quality construct. It demonstrates that SQ, SAT and BI and their interrelationships may be typology‐specific. Thus, two or more industries may exhibit similar relationship characteristics with regard to these constructs, if they belong to the same service category. This knowledge can lead to inter‐industry benchmarking of best practices that can lead to better customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions.

This study seeks to investigate, through the development of an operationalized service quality construct in the context of a service factory, whether the typology to which a service belongs may explain the nature of the service quality (SQ) construct and its relationship to customer satisfaction (SAT) and behavioral intentions (BI).

An exploratory factor analysis used a sample from undergraduate student respondents. Then, a more representative sample of hotel guests was used, in a second‐order confirmatory factor analysis.

The dominant dimensions of SQ construct in the service factory were found to be: Tangibles, Recovery, Responsiveness, and Knowledge. Further results indicate that, although the direct effect of SQ on BI is significant, the indirect effect (with SAT playing a mediating role) is a stronger driver for BI in the context of the service factory.

A notable limitation is that the present study focuses only on the service factory and uses only one industry (lodging) to illustrate the findings. Future research should examine other service categories.

Service managers are recommended to devise operations and marketing strategies that focus on the dominant SQ dimensions in order to enhance SAT and, in turn, foster positive BI.

This study demonstrates that SQ, SAT and BI and their interrelationships may be typology‐specific. If this is true, two or more industries (e.g. airlines and lodging) may exhibit similar relationship characteristics with regard to these constructs if they belong to the same service category. This knowledge is useful for benchmarking best practices among such industries.