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Browsing by Author "Dolnicar, Sara"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
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    If you want to learn about real behaviour, measure real behaviour
    Viglia, Giampaolo; Dolnicar, Sara; Acuti, Diletta; Nicolau, Juan Luis (Routledge, 2024-08-19)
    We argue that research aiming to understand or change human behavior must measure real behavior, not just behavioral intentions, to draw valid conclusions. The work highlights the well-established gap between people’s intentions and behavior across various tourism and hospitality contexts. Methodologically, we encourage authors not to rely on behavioral intentions and instead measure real behavior. We provide an overview of methods available to capture real behavior either automatically or manually in tourism contexts. The article also introduces a special issue in the Journal of Sustainable Tourism that showcases the measurement of real environmentally significant tourist behavior using diverse methods, such as biometric techniques, big data analytics, field observations, and experiments. We conclude by discussing five issues that prevent studies form drawing causal conclusions about behavior, namely, (i) reliance on behavioral intentions; (ii) a sample that does not reflect the population of interest; (iii) errors in measuring latent psychological constructs; (iv) consumer hypocrisy and social desirability bias; and (v) situational factors and habits. By advocating for a transition towards measuring real behavior, the article and the special issue aim to increase the validity and impact of research seeking to understand human behavior and drive effective behavior change for addressing global challenges.
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    An untapped gold mine? Exploring the potential of market basket analysis to grow hotel revenue [Summary]
    Solnet, David; Boztug, Yasemin; Dolnicar, Sara (Virginia Tech, 2016-07)
    Market Basket Analysis identifies and predicts the purchasing behavior of customers based on the expenditure patterns of all previous customers. While widely applied in retail contexts, its use in hospitality is limited. This paper argues that Market Basket Analysis could increase revenue by enabling hotels to determine the most attractive additional products and services (beyond the room type) to offer new and repeat hotel guests. The method’s potential is illustrated using five years of internal guest sales records from a luxury hotel group in Australia.