Search results

This chapter assesses the accuracy of the assumption that organizational change research is too thematically narrow. The proposition is explored by assessing the nature of articles on change, published since 1947, in eight representative management and organization journals (n=454). Results indicate that more research on change is being published but has not lead to significantly more developed knowledge, as it increasingly relies on refinement rather than idea overthrow, and is largely made up of themes that received most of their critical attention up to a decade ago. The critique concludes by highlighting further development and career challenges for change researchers.

This chapter applies science mapping analysis (SciMat) and literature review as research methods to examine literature about higher education institutions (HEIs) during the Covid-19 pandemic. User acceptance, satisfaction, and perception are identified as the most productive research themes in the sample of 561 Web of Science (WoS) indexed articles about HEIs during the pandemic. The literature review of the top themes reveals that user acceptance is influenced by the perceived usefulness of online learning and ease of using online tools. The level of satisfaction among students in online learning is relatively high and linked with the perceived benefits of online courses. Conditions influencing user acceptance and perceived satisfaction differ between students and lecturers. Technology-related themes appeared to be relatively under-researched as standalone themes, but technological aspects turned out to be important components of the most prolific research themes identified.

This chapter looks at similarities between the experience economy and Disneyization, with specific focus placed on theming as a means of enhancing the visitor’s experience. Sophisticated tourists have brought with them the need for research to explain their behavior and place more emphasis on experiences. The Addo Elephant National Park, South Africa, is presented as a case study that uses interpretation as a tool for theming.

This chapter is approached from a marketing perspective on visitor attractions. Several issues and guidelines related to theming are presented to highlight several aspects which visitor attraction managers need to consider when seeking to use theming to enhance or create a visitor experience.

What was evident from the literature is that the theme is the most important aspect in all models (i.e., the experience economy, Disneyization, and interpretation). The theme should be planned meticulously as the theme refers to several aspects not only in the experience itself, but also in the experience cycle. It is therefore a quite complex tool to use that should not be taken lightly in order to benefit fully from the advantages it offers.

The value of this chapter lies in the fact that several models and their similarities were presented with an underpinning tool called theming. As not much research have been done on theming, the guidelines presented by all the models have been considered in a systematic manner that would assist visitor attraction managers in forming a better understanding of the use of the tool and issues related to it. With this said, there are several aspects highlighted in the chapter which necessitate more research in order to assist managers effectively in designing effective themes.

The use of thematic analysis (TA) as a qualitative analytical technique is gaining traction in higher education research. This is a positive development, since TA has a lot to offer in terms of enhancing scholars' analytical prowess. However, its usage in higher education as a field of study appears at times to be inaccurate. In other cases, methodological steps remain unclear, if not completely obscured, making it difficult for a reader to understand how this method should be conducted and/or how specific results/findings have been achieved. Also, researchers have widely embraced a variation of TA that emerged in the last decade and a half, neglecting the original, rigorous method put forward by Boyatzis in the late 1990s. This contribution takes a critical look at the current use of TA in higher education research. It highlights current issues in its application, presents and constructively criticizes the most employed approach to TA in higher education, and proposes greater consideration for TA's original specification and procedural guidelines.

Late spring, early summer 2020, theme parks across the World started to publish their plans for reopening. In this regard, this chapter ventures into critical questions like what did theme parks learn from the first ‘reopening’? What worked and what has changed? Have or will visitors return? Drafted as an exploratory paper this chapter brings forth the strategies adopted by the theme parks in the quest to return to the normal.

In addition to individual differences, variations in visitors’ motivations may result from temporal variance. The leisure ladder model (LLM) is one of the most representative motivation models, which proposes patterns for an individual's temporal dynamic nature. This study attempts to examine empirically the ageing and experiential variations of the theme park visitors’ motivations, which underlie the model. Using stratified and systematic sampling techniques, survey data were collected from visitors to four leading theme parks in Taiwan – an Asian island nation. Limited support for the ageing variation was found and its changing pattern was also recognized in this study. A relatively more discriminating scale to measure the extent of visitor's experience was also suggested.

This chapter explores the media coverage of the 2016 Presidential campaign and reveals the corruption fantasy themes that emerged. Media coverage of corruption can uniquely affect voter attitudes and public policy formulation and implementation, as revealed in previous scholarship on media coverage of corruption. By tracing the competing narratives offered in media coverage utilizing the constant comparative method, the dramatic characters, Crooked Hillary and Corrupt Businessman Trump, are identified and their storylines are explicated. Analysis reveals these dramatic fantasy themes chained through social media, evincing and promoting the narratives that drove media coverage of our political leaders and public policy results. The chapter illustrates that the narratives involving corruption were prominent and negative, further indicating that the media’s obsession with scandal contributed to and supported the narratives that portrayed both candidates as corrupt, adding pollution to the 2016 U.S. political environment.

This chapter contributes to the scholarship of teaching and learning in extracurricular enterprise and entrepreneurship education. It draws on research from two annual ‘Business Challenge Weeks’ (BCW) held at Oxford Brookes University in 2021 and 2022, in which teams of postgraduate students from three faculties worked on external client projects, supported by an academic mentor. It presents and discusses findings derived from a survey and interviews conducted after the second of these years. The chapter takes a transdisciplinary perspective, after Budwig and Alexander (2020), Piaget (1972) and Klein et al. (2001) and explores the relationship between this and the enterprise and entrepreneurship development pipeline set out by QAA (2018). It analyses the experiences of the three main participating groups engaged in the challenge weeks – students, external clients and academic mentors – and explores the organising challenges inherent in multiparty pedagogical initiatives. The chapter contributes to knowledge in this area by revealing and reflecting on the motivations and expectations of the three participant groups, the roles they played during the week and the outcomes they reported. It also expands understanding of transdisciplinary enterprise pedagogy.

In order to facilitate transfer of knowledge to and within tourism, it is necessary to understand research trends and to critically analyze their contributions to knowledge formation. This chapter examine articles published in Annals of Tourism Research, Journal of Travel Research, Tourism Management, and Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, between 2000 and 2010, using STATIS to explore the main changes and trends that occurred in terms of research themes. Study findings indicate similarities and differences between the four journals under analysis, providing clues for a better understanding of the objectives, limitations, and trends in tourism research as well as the positioning of each academic journal.