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The paper aims to contribute to theory and practice by investigating into the role of environmental identity in explaining ecotourism attitudes and behaviours by first, testing its direct effects on ecotourism attitude and ecotourism interest, and second, testing its direct and mediated effects on ecotourism intention and willingness to pay a premium.

The study relies on primary data collected from tourists visiting the island of Mauritius. Data collection took place at several popular tourist sites located in different parts of the island. The questionnaire was self-administered and was immediately collected after completion. A total of 512 usable questionnaires were collected. A two-stage approach to structural equation modelling was used for data analysis.

The results demonstrate empirically that stronger environmental identity leads directly to more positive ecotourism attitude, greater interest towards ecotourism and a higher willingness to pay a premium. While evidence was not found between the direct link between environmental identity and ecotourism behavioural intentions, the confirmation of full mediating effects shows that stronger environmental identity also leads to an increase in tourists’ intention to engage in ecotourism activities by first influencing their attitude which then results in more favourable behaviours towards ecotourism.

While the contributions of the tourists’ attitude and interest in predicting their behaviours towards ecotourism have been well established by past research, the importance of environmental identity has remained uncertain as to date, given the lack of empirical studies. This present research provides evidence that environmental identity has a major role to play in explaining the behaviours of tourists towards ecotourism products and services.

The purpose of this study is to validate the higher education service quality (HESQUAL) scale using a confirmatory approach and test an improved structural model that predicts student loyalty from image, perceived value, satisfaction and service quality. In addition to validating the HESQUAL scale using a confirmatory approach, two other main limitations in the extant literature are addressed.

The model is tested using data collected from 501 students enrolled in different higher education institutions in Mauritius. A two-stage approach to structural equation modeling is used whereby the measurement model is first tested using confirmatory factor analysis and followed by the assessment of the structural model.

Importantly, results indicate that student satisfaction is influenced by technical service quality, image and perceived value, but not by functional service quality. Both dimensions of service quality however are significant predictors of image and perceived value. The study uses a comprehensive measure of service quality and demonstrates that it is worthwhile to consider functional service quality as higher-order model and clearly distinguish between functional and technical quality, as both the technical and functional aspects play an important role in shaping students’ perceptions and behaviors.

First, in the existing literature, service quality has not been considered as a second-order factor model in structural models of student satisfaction and loyalty, thus lacking either precision or parsimony. Second, the transformative quality aspect of higher education has been largely neglected in previous research testing such predictive models. The model delineates service quality into the functional and transformative (technical) aspects and treats functional service quality as a second-order factor comprising nine sub-dimensions.

The paper provides a step-by-step guide in the guise of a roadmap for service improvement initiatives using importance performance map analysis (IPMA).

To empirically illustrate how IPMA can be applied to any service industry, three sectors are considered; sports and fitness (study A), hospitality (study B) and higher education (study C). Following the proper selection of measuring instruments and their evaluation using structural equation modeling-partial least squares (Smart-PLS), IPMA is applied to identify those attributes having strong total effects (high importance) over the targeted construct (satisfaction) but which also have low average latent variable scores (low performance).

For sports and fitness (study A), the physical aspects and programme quality require managerial attention. For the hospitability sector (study B), it is service commitment, interaction quality and internal sense of happiness. Whereas for higher education (study C), it is administrative quality as well as the element of transformative quality, namely the university’s role in adding to its students’ emotional stability, which needs the attention of the top management.

This study provides researchers and practitioners with a roadmap for applying PLS-SEM and IPMA for continuous service quality improvement. The roadmap extends upon Ringle and Sarstedt’s (2016) work. It highlights critical decisions that need to be considered in the pre-analytical stages of the IPMA application, i.e. at the research design phase in selecting the most appropriate service quality measurement model specifications. It not only contributes to the existing body of knowledge by providing empirical evidence to advance theory development in the quality management field but also has implications for the practitioners in any service sector on where to focus their attention for an effective service improvement.

This study aims to confirm the expected impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) related to perceived travel risk on the likelihood of tourists to visit a destination. It then aims at identifying the key predictors of perceived travel risk in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. A theoretically grounded framework is proposed which can be further improved to understand and predict international travel behaviours within the context of global pandemics.

A mixed-methods design is adopted. In the first phase referred to as Study 1, a cross-sectional design is used based on a sample of 217 international outgoing tourists surveyed at the Mauritian International Airport and data is analysed using hierarchical regression. In Phase 2, referred to as Study 2, a purposive sample of tourists around the world are interviewed and data is analysed using the thematic analysis technique.

The results show that amongst those tourists who are willing to travel in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis, the related perceived risk is likely to influence their travelling intention. Several key predictors of perceived travel risks are uncovered, those are categorised as COVID-19 status; transportation services; national sanitary measures; health-care services; accommodation services; ecotourism facilities. Moreover, the potential effects of those factors on perceived COVID-19 related travel risk are likely to be moderated by the trustworthiness of the information.

The implications of the study are important for researchers and policymakers to better understand and predict travellers’ behaviour in times of pandemics. These implications are also important to tourism marketers and transport and hospitality service providers to more effectively manage and mitigate the effect of such events.

The study provides an original comprehensive model grounded in the social cognitive theory and protection motivation theory to understand the predictors of perceived travel risks in relation to COVID-19 at a destination.

本文采用了混合的研究方法设计。在研究1的第一阶段中, 本文采用了横向比较研究设计, 对在毛里求斯国际机场进行调查收集的217名国际出境游客样本, 使用分层回归分析了数据。在第二阶段（研究2）中, 采用了立意取样的抽样方法, 采访了来自世界各地的旅游者, 并使用主题分析技术对数据进行了分析。

这项研究证实了与COVID-19相关的感知旅行风险对游客访问目的地的可能性的预期影响。然后, 它旨在确定COVID-19大流行后感知的旅行风险的关键影响因子。

结果表明, 在COVID-19危机之后愿意旅行的那些游客中, 相关的感知风险很可能会影响他们的旅行意图。感知的旅行风险的几个关键影响因素分为：COVID-19状况; 运输服务; 国家卫生措施; 医疗服务; 住宿服务; 生态旅游设施。而且, 这些因素对与COVID-19相关的感知旅行风险的潜在影响可能会受到信息的可信度的调节影响。

该研究对于研究人员和决策者更好地了解和预测大流行期间旅客的行为, 以及旅游营销人员以及运输和酒店服务供应商提供有效管理和减轻此类事件的影响具有重要意义。

该研究提供了一个原创且全面的模型, 以了解与目的地COVID-19相关的感知旅行风险的影响因素。

Se adopta un diseño de métodos mixtos. En la primera fase, denominada estudio 1, se adopta un diseño transversal basado en una muestra de 217 turistas internacionales encuestados salientes del Aeropuerto Internacional de Mauricio y los datos se analizan mediante regresión jerárquica. En la segunda fase, denominada estudio 2, se entrevista a una muestra intencional de turistas de todo el mundo y se analizan los datos mediante la técnica de análisis temático.

Este estudio confirma empíricamente el impacto esperado de la percepción del riesgo de viaje relacionado con COVID-19 sobre la probabilidad de que los turistas visiten un destino. A continuación, tiene por objeto identificar los principales factores de predicción del riesgo percibido de los viajes tras la pandemia de COVID-19.

Los resultados muestran que entre los turistas que están dispuestos a viajar tras la crisis de COVID-19, es probable que el riesgo percibido relacionado influya en su intención de viaje. Se han descubierto varios predictores clave de los riesgos percibidos de los viajes, que se clasifican como: Situación de COVID-19; servicios de transporte; medidas sanitarias nacionales; servicios de salud; servicios de alojamiento; instalaciones de ecoturismo. Además, es probable que los posibles efectos de esos factores en la percepción de los riesgos de viaje relacionados con COVID-19 se vean moderados por la fiabilidad de la información.

Las repercusiones del estudio son importantes para que los investigadores y los encargados de formular políticas comprendan y prevean mejor el comportamiento de los viajeros en épocas de pandemia y también para que el mercado turístico y los proveedores de servicios de transporte y hostelería gestionen y mitiguen más eficazmente el efecto de esos acontecimientos.

El estudio proporciona un modelo original y completo para comprender los predictores de los riesgos percibidos en los viajes en relación con COVID-19 en un destino.

The purpose of this study is to carry out a comprehensive systematic review of lean implementation frameworks and roadmaps developed over the past decade and report the key findings along with the limitations and the way forward.

A systematic review methodology proposed by Tranfield (2003), was followed to identify the relevant works on the research topic. Articles were searched using a set of inclusion criteria in various databases including Google Scholar, Web of Science and Science Direct over a period of 30 years.

The high failure rate of lean system implementation, reaching a range between 70 and 90% in almost all industries, is a matter of concern. This failure rate is still high even though numerous frameworks and roadmap models exist to streamline lean implementation. There is no standard framework or roadmap identified in the literature and many organisations are implementing lean in their unique ways. However, it would be desirable to develop a practical and systematic roadmap on lean-looking into the cultural and leadership dimensions rather than focusing on a set of tools. Moreover, most frameworks and roadmaps lack the sustenance aspects of lean implementation.

This research only identifies the fundamental gaps with the existing frameworks and roadmaps on lean implementation. The next phase of the research is to develop a roadmap and validate it with a number of organisations in different cultural contexts and leadership styles.

The authors argue that this is one of the most comprehensive systematic review on lean frameworks and roadmaps, ever produced in the literature to date.

The link between service quality and customer satisfaction has been well established; however, there are strong reasons to believe that gender moderates the effects of service quality dimensions on customer satisfaction. This study aims to uncover gender-based heterogeneity pertaining to the link between service quality dimensions and customer satisfaction in the context of banking services.

This study adopted a survey design. Data is collected from 282 customers of banks in Mauritius. Because of the prediction-oriented aim of the present study, the partial least squares-structural equation modeling technique is used to test a set of relevant hypotheses.

The results provide mixed findings and the moderating effect of gender is found to be statistically significant for one service quality dimension but not for the other two. The permutation and partial least squares-multigroup analysis tests both support the hypothesis that gender moderates the relationship between environment quality and customer satisfaction.

Only customer satisfaction has been included as a mediator of service quality and customer loyalty link. Previous studies have identified other relevant constructs, such as image and the perceived value, as mediators. Future studies could consider including these constructs when testing gender’s moderating effects. Finally, given the significant moderating effect of gender, which suggests that the satisfaction of male customers depends to a larger extent on environmental quality, there is a need to further explore the specific expectations of male customers with this particular component of bank services.

The results show that male and female customers react differently to quality stimuli in the context of bank services has important managerial implications. It is highly recommended that banks develop differential strategies for both male and female customers.

The primary contribution of this study focuses on exploring the moderating effect of gender on the relationships between service quality dimensions and customer satisfaction among bank customers.

The study conceptualizes service quality as a second-order factor and analyzes its influence on customer satisfaction, perceived value, image, consumption emotions and customer loyalty by testing a structural equation model.

The model is tested using data collected from 672 guests staying in accommodation establishments located in South Africa. The study follows a hierarchical approach using confirmatory factor analysis to test the second-order factor model and structural equation modeling to test the overall model.

The results indicate that the second-order factor model is acceptable both empirically as well as conceptually and performs better than other competing models of service quality. The findings provide support for all hypotheses and evidence of a structural model with a high explanatory power.

The second-order factor model is less useful when fine-grained analyses are needed, such as when a detailed assessment of the level of quality of service offered by a hospitality organization is required.

The second-order factor model allows for an analysis of service quality at different levels of abstraction. Accommodation managers interested in customers’ evaluation of service on a cumulative basis can make use of the global measure to determine service quality evaluations. Practitioners can also use the findings to manage the different dimensions of service quality.

The study demonstrates that service quality is best represented as a second-order factor, and in doing so, it provides an improved measurement of the construct. More so, by integrating the variable in a nomological network, the research develops a more parsimonious model than the existing ones.

This study aims at evaluating the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the export trade system for Mauritius during the first half of 2020 (January 2020–June 2020).

An initial analysis of the monthly export time series data proves that on the whole, the series have diverged from their actual trends after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic: observed values are less than those predicted by the selected optimal forecast models. The authors subsequently employ the Bayesian structural time series (BSTS) framework for causal analysis to estimate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the island's export system.

Overall, the findings show that the COVID-19 pandemic has a statistically significant and negative impact on the Mauritian export trade system, with the five main export trading partners and sectors the most affected. Despite that the impact in some cases is not apparent for the period of study, the results indicate that total exports will surely be affected by the pandemic in the long run. Nevertheless, this depends on the measures taken both locally and globally to mitigate the spread of the pandemic.

This study thus contributes to the growing literature on the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic by focussing on a small island economy.

This study analyses the determinants of an effective performance management system (PMS) in the public sector of Mauritius. It develops a theoretical model that has its roots in the resource-based theory and the institutional theory.

The study uses a quantitative approach, making use of a structured questionnaire to collect data from 158 public sector organisations. Both email and postal methods were used for data collection. A hierarchical regression analysis is used to assess the effect of the organisational factors on PMS effectiveness, while controlling for a number of organisational profile variables.

Results indicate that PMS is only moderately effective. Managers’ involvement, senior management involvement and performance feedback are significant predictors of PMSs effectiveness.

Findings of the study may have limited applicability to developed and industrialised countries and even developing countries that have a different public sector culture to that of Mauritius.

The findings demonstrate that the effectiveness of PMSs is strongly reliant on the involvement of senior management. Accordingly, public sector managers should ensure that they are fully committed and engaged in performance management tasks.

The study contributes to the limited research on the effectiveness of PMSs in developing countries that have a different bureaucratic and performance culture to that of developed nations.

This paper aims to develop and empirically test a hierarchical model for measuring service quality in higher education.

The first phase of the study consisted of qualitative research methods and a comprehensive literature review, which allowed the development of a conceptual model comprising 53 service quality attributes. Quantitative methods were used for the second phase so as to test the dimensionality of the measurement instrument and assess its validity and reliability. A sample of 207 students was surveyed, and data were analysed using exploratory factor analysis and Cronbach’s alpha test.

The results of the factor analysis revealed the presence of sub-dimensions. A hierarchical model was therefore considered most appropriate. The final model consisted of five primary dimensions, which are administrative quality, physical environment quality, core educational quality, support facilities quality and transformative quality. The instrument contained a total of 48 items. Each scale was satisfactorily tested for validity and reliability.

This empirical study made use of data collected in Mauritius only, a developing country.

This study provides a framework and an instrument that can be used by higher education institutions in view of continuously improving educational quality.

The study adopted a holistic approach by considering both the functional and technical aspect of service quality in higher education. Moreover, technical quality was operationalised by considering the notion of transformative quality.