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Article
Publication date: 9 February 2024

Fei Hao, Yueming Guo, Chen Zhang and Kaye Kye Sung Kye-Sung Chon

This study aims to investigate the integration of blockchain technology into the food supply chain within the restaurant industry. It focuses on how blockchain can be applied to…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the integration of blockchain technology into the food supply chain within the restaurant industry. It focuses on how blockchain can be applied to enhance transparency and trust in tracking food sources, ultimately impacting customer satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach

A service design workshop (Study 1) and three between-subjects experiments (Studies 2–4) were conducted.

Findings

Results indicate that blockchain adoption significantly improves traceability and trust in the food supply chain. This improvement in turn enhances customer satisfaction through perceived improvements in food safety, quality and naturalness. This study also notes that the effects of blockchain technology vary depending on the type of restaurant (casual or fine dining) and its location (tourist destinations or residential areas).

Practical implications

The findings offer practical insights for restaurant owners, technology developers and policymakers. Emphasizing the benefits of blockchain adoption, this study guides decision-making regarding technology investments for enhancing customer service and satisfaction in the hospitality sector.

Originality/value

This research contributes novel insights to the field of technology innovation in the hospitality industry. It extends the understanding of signaling theory by exploring how blockchain technology can serve as a tool for signal transmission in restaurant food supply chains.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 August 2023

Edward Shih-Tse Wang and Yu-Jou Weng

Increasing followers' positive word-of-mouth (PWOM) is a critical means through which social media influencers (SMIs) marketers can increase SMIs' follower count. Studies have…

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Abstract

Purpose

Increasing followers' positive word-of-mouth (PWOM) is a critical means through which social media influencers (SMIs) marketers can increase SMIs' follower count. Studies have reported that authenticity and credibility increase followers' PWOM and have identified the dimensions of authenticity (i.e. originality, naturalness and continuity) and credibility (i.e. attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise). However, the mechanisms underlying the associations among these dimensions are unclear. Drawing from social exchange theory, the authors developed an integrated conceptual model and explored how the dimensions of SMI authenticity affect those of followers' perception of credibility. Moreover, the authors analyzed how followers' perception of credibility affects the followers' PWOM behavior.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors collected 463 valid questionnaires from respondents that followed at least one SMI. Additionally, the authors developed a structural equation model for data analysis.

Findings

The results revealed that the subdimensions of SMI authenticity have different effects on followers' perception of credibility. An SMI's continuity positively affects followers' perceptions of the SMI's trustworthiness and expertise. The naturalness of an SMI positively affects followers' perception of the SMI's attractiveness but nonsignificantly affects followers' perception of the SMI's trustworthiness. Additionally, an SMI's originality positively affects followers' perception of the SMI's attractiveness but negatively affects followers' perception of the SMI's trustworthiness. Finally, followers' perceptions of an SMI's attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise all positively affect followers' PWOM behavior.

Originality/value

By employing multidimensional constructs, the authors obtained results that provide a comprehensive understanding of the effects of SMI authenticity on the SMI's followers' perception of followers' credibility. These results can be used by SMIs to increase SMIs followers' PWOM by determining which aspects of authenticity and credibility SMIs should develop.

Details

Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, vol. 36 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-5855

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 12 June 2023

Flavio Boccia, Letizia Alvino and Daniela Covino

Packaging and labelling have become essential to how food manufacturers generate and deliver value to customers. The information displayed on the packaging can be used to…

Abstract

Purpose

Packaging and labelling have become essential to how food manufacturers generate and deliver value to customers. The information displayed on the packaging can be used to communicate to customers the properties and unique characteristics of a food product (e.g. nutrients, calories and country of origin). To achieve communication goals effectively, manufacturers need to understand how consumers evaluate products based on their attributes. In particular, companies should be aware of which specific product attributes affect consumer buying behaviour and which product attributes are more critical during food assessment. So, the paper aims to investigate consumer's behaviuor linked to typical product attributes indicated on the packaging.

Design/methodology/approach

The present study examines consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for a cherry jam with different attributes (brand, type of production method and price) on a sample of 2,166 Italian respondents through a choice experiment using a random parameter logit-error component model.

Findings

The results showed that WTP for jams can be affected by attributes such as brand, price and production methods; precisely, they indicated that the level of naturalness in the production process constitutes the main element for the consumer’s choice; however, the considerable weight that price and brand have in influencing the purchasing behaviour of the food consumer was still confirmed: in fact, a p-value of less than 0.05 was found in all cases.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that assesses the effect of different types of production on WTP for food products. In addition, this study also reflects on the importance of the level of education for consumer choice.

Details

Nutrition & Food Science , vol. 54 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0034-6659

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 August 2023

Heather Hartwell, Jeff Bray, Natalia Lavrushkina, Jodie Lacey, Vanessa Mello Rodrigues, Ana Carolina Fernandes, Greyce Luci Bernardo, Suellen Secchi Martinelli, Suzi Barletto Cavalli and Rossana Pacheco da Costa Proença

Adequate vegetable consumption is fundamental to a healthy balanced diet; however, global compliance with recommendations is poor which is particularly important for young adults…

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Abstract

Purpose

Adequate vegetable consumption is fundamental to a healthy balanced diet; however, global compliance with recommendations is poor which is particularly important for young adults as they form food consumption habits. There is a growing interest in the circular economy of hospitality and sustainability of current dietary patterns in light of climate change and an expanding global population. The food value chain needs to be considered both vertically and horizontally where the research and development (R&D) investment is optimised by being “joined up” and not fragmentary; in addition, consumer trade-offs of health vs for example sensory appeal are taken into consideration. The purpose of this study was to identify factors predicting acceptance of vegetable dishes by young adults and present a roadmap that can be used for dish development and healthful marketing.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used the health belief model (HBM) as framework to investigate key factors that encourage vegetable intake by young adults using an online questionnaire sample of 444 enrolled in undergraduate programs at universities in Brazil.

Findings

Structural modelling showed that vegetable consumption frequency was positively influenced by Health concerns, Naturalness and Self-efficacy (including cooking skills), whereas Sensory factors and Familiarity demonstrated a negative loading that might be related to unpleasantness.

Originality/value

Globally, there is a strong need to promote the consumption of vegetables as a public health policy priority but also to ameliorate barriers to action that could be facilitated by availability, dish development and healthful marketing in hospitality operations.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 126 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 January 2024

Yuanzhang Yang, Linqin Wang, Shengxiang Gao, Zhengtao Yu and Ling Dong

This paper aims to disentangle Chinese-English-rich resources linguistic and speaker timbre features, achieving cross-lingual speaker transfer for Cambodian.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to disentangle Chinese-English-rich resources linguistic and speaker timbre features, achieving cross-lingual speaker transfer for Cambodian.

Design/methodology/approach

This study introduces a novel approach: the construction of a cross-lingual feature disentangler coupled with the integration of time-frequency attention adaptive normalization to proficiently convert Cambodian speaker timbre into Chinese-English without altering the underlying Cambodian speech content.

Findings

Considering the limited availability of multi-speaker corpora in Cambodia, conventional methods have demonstrated subpar performance in Cambodian speaker voice transfer.

Originality/value

The originality of this study lies in the effectiveness of the disentanglement process and precise control over speaker timbre feature transfer.

Details

International Journal of Web Information Systems, vol. 20 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1744-0084

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 December 2023

José Manuel López-Agulló Pérez-Caballero, Belén Ávila Rodríguez-de-Mier and Fernando García-Chamizo

The aim of this research is to analyze the territorialization strategy developed by the Spanish brewing company Cruzcampo through its campaign #ConMuchoAcento (#With a strong…

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this research is to analyze the territorialization strategy developed by the Spanish brewing company Cruzcampo through its campaign #ConMuchoAcento (#With a strong accent) launched in January 2021.

Design/methodology/approach

The work is framed within the case study methodology. Semiotics will be the discipline used to establish the set of cultural units or signs that the company puts into play in its campaign #ConMuchoAcento.

Findings

Cruzcampo beer makes use of place branding by highlighting the Andalusian accent as a way of creating a unique positioning strategy. By doing so, the brewing company faces the issue of being associated with the negative Andalusian stereotype, sometimes regarded as if it were uneducated and low class. The use of dialectic must be seen as a step further in place branding strategy since it brings locality to the commercial message.

Social implications

The social effects of the cultural units brought into play by the #ConMuchoAcento campaign remain to be analyzed, that is, the political dimension of this exercise of signifying agency of Andalusian culture. In other words, it remains to be seen how the accent represents that romantic Andalusian ideal of “authenticity” as that form of subjectivity at the margins of the cultural and rational organization of modern global capitalism.

Originality/value

This study is one of the first to be conducted on the multi-award-winning #ConMuchoAcento campaign. Furthermore, it will analyze the place branding strategy carried out by the brand from a semiotic perspective.

Article
Publication date: 30 October 2023

Huan Chen, Dalong Ma and Bhakti Sharma

This study aims to delve into entrepreneurs’ perceptions and interpretations of short video marketing on TikTok.

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to delve into entrepreneurs’ perceptions and interpretations of short video marketing on TikTok.

Design/methodology/approach

In light of the study’s exploratory nature, a qualitative approach was used. The authors conducted in-depth interviews with 17 entrepreneurs to uncover their insights on short video marketing via TikTok. Data analysis was carried out using thematic analysis and NVivo, and rigorous measures were in place to ensure the quality of the study.

Findings

This study’s findings suggested that entrepreneurs’ usage of TikTok is customer-oriented, with the purposes of promoting their businesses, generating word-of-mouth and managing customer relationships. As such, the gratification of connection with their audience, entertainment and information provision needs motivate entrepreneurs’ use of TikTok for social media marketing. Additionally, entrepreneurs’ use of TikTok may also contribute to their gratification of creativity and spontaneity needs, which may otherwise be limited in the context of other social media platforms.

Originality/value

This study expands the previous literature on entrepreneurship, social media marketing and the uses and gratification approach by revealing the specifics, nuances and dynamics of TikTok marketing from the entrepreneurs’ emic perspective.

Details

Journal of Research in Marketing and Entrepreneurship, vol. 26 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1471-5201

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 March 2024

Vikas Kumar and Vikrant Kaushal

With the increasing competition and rise in the number of brands in almost every product category, consumers need help to figure out authentic brands. Thus, it becomes imperative…

Abstract

Purpose

With the increasing competition and rise in the number of brands in almost every product category, consumers need help to figure out authentic brands. Thus, it becomes imperative for marketers to examine the factors that influence the perceptions of brand authenticity (PBA) and its favorable outcomes for the brand. This paper aims to explore the critical antecedents (i.e. “brand heritage” and “brand nostalgia”) and consequences [i.e. “consumer brand engagement” (CBE) and “perceived brand ownership” (PBO)] of PBA in this study.

Design/methodology/approach

In total, 368 responses were collected online through a self-administered survey method and were analyzed using structural equation modeling in AMOS v 25.

Findings

The findings reveal that both brand heritage and brand nostalgia can affect PBA. In addition, PBA engenders CBE and PBO among consumers toward the brand.

Practical implications

The study findings help the marketers to find ways to induce authenticity perceptions among consumers about their brands, which can further translate into PBO and CBE.

Originality/value

This study empirically verifies a model to enhance PBA through brand heritage and nostalgia. Further, it explores CBE and PBO as the potential outcomes of PBA.

Details

Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2514-9342

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 March 2024

Fitri Rahmafitria and Regan Leonardus Kaswanto

One of the crucial elements of addressing global climate challenges through urban tourism is the continuing existence of urban forests. The reasoning is that the ecological…

Abstract

Purpose

One of the crucial elements of addressing global climate challenges through urban tourism is the continuing existence of urban forests. The reasoning is that the ecological attraction of urban forests can impact visitors’ intention to conduct pro-environmental behavior, including low-carbon actions. Thus, more visitors to urban forests will positively affect enhancing the quality of the urban environment. However, the extent to which ecological attraction can influence pro-environmental behavior warrants further investigation due to the complexity of psychosocial factors that impact behavioral intention. The main objective of this research is to examine the effects of the ecological attractiveness of urban forests on the pro-environmental behavior of visitors by exploring motivation, ecological experience, perceived value and knowledge as mediators. Moreover, whether the nature of the urban forest and facilities attract visitors simultaneously is also studied.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from 615 respondents who visited three urban forests in Bandung, the second-most populous city in Indonesia, by five-point Likert questionnaires. As an analytical tool, SEM PLS was applied to establish the effect of the ecological performance of the urban forest on the increase in environmentally conscious behavior among urban forest visitors.

Findings

The findings demonstrate that the attractiveness of an urban forest affects the growth of environmentally responsible behaviors. Nonetheless, the attractiveness of urban forests is dictated more by their infrastructure than their ecological function. On the contrary, the visitors’ knowledge level can improve their motivation, environmental experience and perceived environmental value. These findings show the significance of developing educational programs with an emphasis on the experience of the visitors so that their ecological performance can contribute to improved low-carbon behavior. In conclusion, this work contributes to the management of sustainable urban tourism.

Research limitations/implications

This work also has some limitations. First, the medium R-square on intention behavior to low-carbon action suggests investigating other influential factors to produce a more robust conscious behavior. Mkono and Hughes (2020) mention that many complex factors that cause positive intention do not necessarily lead to environmental action. Thus, many psychosocial variables need to be explored in different models. Second, the convenient sampling used here does not represent the whole population, making generalization difficult. Thus, further work needs to apply more rigorous sampling techniques to validate the findings. Further investigations may also need to be conducted in other urban forests in another Asian country with a similar and different social context for benchmarking, as this study found that the type of attractive urban forest design is a more dense forest, which differs from other studies based in Europe. Exploring more influencing behavioral factors of pro-environmental action in the model is also suggested. Thus, we could contribute more to support recreational activities in urban forests.

Practical implications

As an implication for planning an urban forest to increase its recreational function, the authors illustrate the importance of producing educational programs. Although the improved knowledge of visitors has been shown to strengthen their commitment to perform pro-environmental actions, the mediating role of motivation, experience and perceived value reveals that some activities are required to achieve visitor motivation to actual behavior. Consequently, designing an urban forest requires not only the enhancement of eco-attractions and artificial elements for the convenience of visitors but also the development of an environmental education program that can improve visitors’ environmental experience and perception of ecological value. The designed educational program may use an experiential education approach incorporating objective knowledge of Earth’s current state. The urban forest education program must encourage visitors’ connection and participation with nature. Moreover, knowledge and information about Earth’s environmental quality can increase visitors’ perceived value, ensuring that their activities in the urban forest contribute to improved health, environmental quality and social environment. Thus, with well-managed and provided education, they are encouraged to adopt low-carbon action because it complements their contribution to a better quality environment.

Originality/value

The theoretical contribution of this research is generated through the role of urban forest attractiveness in the intention to conduct low-carbon action, which influences solutions to existing urban environmental problems. This work exhibits that both ecological attractiveness and attractiveness of artificial elements in urban forests can attract visitors and subsequently boost their outdoor recreation motivation, ecological experience and perceived value and then turn them to boost their intention to conduct low-carbon action. The physical characteristics of a site are behavioral stimuli that can increase a person’s motivation, experience and perception of the value of the environment, thereby increasing their intention to engage in low-carbon actions. This environment behavioral construction is fundamental in understanding that urban forests offer ecological benefits and influence the social quality of urban communities. Nevertheless, without visitor activity, urban forests are merely physical entities that become increasingly demanding to maintain. Due to this, an urban forest that is socially active and has an influence on promoting environmentally conscious behavior is needed, and its presence is becoming ever more crucial. This work shows the significance of integrating psychosocial approaches into managing tourism in urban forests.

Details

International Journal of Tourism Cities, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2056-5607

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 March 2024

Sarah Bradshaw

This paper argues that extractivist logic creates the environmental conditions that produce “natural” hazards and also the human conditions that produce vulnerability, which…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper argues that extractivist logic creates the environmental conditions that produce “natural” hazards and also the human conditions that produce vulnerability, which combined create disasters. Disaster Risk Creation is then built into the current global socio-economic system, as an integral component not accidental by-product.

Design/methodology/approach

As part of the movement to liberate disasters as discipline, practice and field of enquiry, this paper does not talk disasters per se, but rather its focus is on “extractivism” as a fundamental explanator for the anthropogenic disaster landscape that now confronts us.

Findings

Applying a gender lens to extractivism as it relates to disaster, further highlights that Disaster Risk Management rather than alleviating, creates the problems it seeks to solve, suggesting the need to liberate gender from Disaster Risk Management, and the need to liberate us all from the notion of managing disasters. Since to ‘manage’ disaster risk is to accept uncritically the structures and systems that create that risk, then if we truly want to address disasters, our focus needs to be on the extractive practices, not the disastrous outcomes.

Originality/value

The fundamental argument is that through privileging the notion of “disaster” we create it, bring it into existence, as something that exists in and of itself, apart from wider socio-economic structures and systems of extraction and exploitation, rather than recognising it for what it is, an outcome/end product of those wider structures and systems. Our focus on disaster is then misplaced, and perhaps what disaster studies needs to be liberated from, is itself.

Details

Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-3562

Keywords

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