Browsing by Author "Kamruzzaman, Md"
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- 360 Degrees of Pressure: The Changing Role of the HR Professional in the Hospitality Industry [Summary]Kamruzzaman, Md (Virginia Tech, 2020-02-12)This study reflects a descriptive experience in hospitality through the rapidly changing world of HRM. The study defined the nature of that position in a diverse sector in terms of structure, scale, location, market and demand. It also demonstrated the downward trend within organizational structures in need of equilibrium in the lower part of the management hierarchy of many organizations in order to find a polarized and competent HR position. It also discussed and explained how that external pressures have an effect on the HR position of poles, strategic and organizational at both ends and have used three from a wide range of potential pressures to explain possible impacts. Then we try to understand the current status and role of HR management in the hospitality industry by bringing these things together. Recommendations for handling the existing 360 degree demands on the HR system could provide additional time and tasks for managers to actively interact with the introduction of their HR duties, tailored training and development of the various facets of HR functions and associated external pressures, and a user-friendly, real-time contact platform.
- A Bibliometric Analysis of Lodging-Context Research from 1990 to 2016 [Summary]Kamruzzaman, Md (Virginia Tech, 2020-03-06)This study presented a bibliometric analysis of lodging-context research by addressing the trend in the number of publications from year to year according to academic journals; most prolific contributors according to author, institution, and country; and the types of establishment and management subdisciplines/ fields. Based on the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study offering a bibliometric analysis of lodging-context research in our field. The majority of the journals were under the SSCI while one of the journals, which was considered to be a prominent journal, was not indexed in SSCI, but was included in the study. A total of 2,647 studies published between 1990 and 2016 from the 16 journals, including full-length articles and research notes, were identified for the purpose of this study. The results from this study provide an overview of the existing information on research studies on lodging from the last 27 years for researchers who are interested in lodging as a research area and the results also provide information regarding prominent journals and authors. The findings should help researchers and professionals identify gaps in literature and practice.
- Brand Management in Hospitality: An Empirical Test of The Brisoux-Laroche Model [Summary]Kamruzzaman, Md (Virginia Tech, 2020-02-12)The hospitality industry in America is highly competitive, with numerous brands offering thousands of products targeting different types of American consumers. The Brisoux and Laroche (1980) model shows that when a consumer is faced with a multiple brand situation, he or she would simplify the available information by categorizing the total available brands into four sets. After classifying the brands into four types, one may make a purchase choice from the evoked set. According to Brisoux and Laroche (1980), this is a dynamic model in which brands may move from one set to the other due to various internal and external factors. Internal factors include changes in psychographic and demographic matters and personal preferences of consumers. External factors may include situations such as marketing activities of the excluded and included brands, new product introductions, brand withdrawals, changes in competitive intensity, changes in the general and task environment, and life cycle stages of the available brands. This study has provided empirical support to the existence of four awareness sets and the relationships among the three brand groups in each set. Providing further support to the proposed model using net utility values is one of the major contributions of this study. Use of net utility values to identify various brands and their level of acceptance by the consumers is a major finding. This model could also be used in conjunction with various brands from the hotel and tourism segments of the hospitality industry. In sum, the consumers’ selection process involves the categorization of available brands as four distinct sets of awareness (evoked, hold, reject, and foggy). These available sets can be further examined according to three subgroups of brands (leading, intermediate, and low).
- The China Syndrome: The Impact of the SARS Epidemic In Southeast Asia [Summary]Kamruzzaman, Md (Virginia Tech, 2020-04-07)SARS is a coronavirus, like the common cold. However, its origin in southern China implies a zoonotic pathway, similar to influenza's. If SARS started as a water-borne bird virus, it might have been passed via faecal droppings to a chicken or a pig, or even directly to people. Three "superepidemics," known as pandemics, of influenza encircled the globe during the 20th century. History teaches us that the devastating 1918 influenza epidemic began with a modest level in the spring that faded away during the summer, only to explode and wreak global devastation the following fall and winter. The first was the 1918 Spanish Flu, a scourge that killed over 20 million people world-wide, including 500,000 in the U.S. The 1957 Asian Flu and the 1968 Hong Kong Flu killed 69,800 and 33,800 respectively in the U.S. Flu pandemics happen when the flu virus mutates, swaps genes with another organism inside an infected animal, or jumps from animals to humans. Travel restrictions are now in place at airports around the world after the World Health Organization (WHO) urged airports in SARS-affected cities to question passengers about their health before check-in and to discourage anyone who had a fever within the past 24 hours from flying. In addition to the airports serving Beijing, Shanghai, Guanghzou, Hong Kong, Singapore and Hanoi, restrictions have also been introduced in Toronto. This came after an elderly couple returning from Hong Kong brought the SARS disease to Canada, where there have been almost 300 reported cases. In addition to restrictions at airports and the WHO's travel warning, many countries have urged their citizens to reconsider traveling to Asia. This would not just adversely impact the region's tourist industry, but also other business activities (Anonymous, "Not only bad for your health," 2003). "This article summary is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (CC BY).
- Corporate Social Responsibility and Equity-Holder Risk in the Hospitality Industry [Summary]Kamruzzaman, Md (Virginia Tech, 2020-02-17)The research studied how CSR increases the firm interest of shareholders who eventually finance the CSR efforts of a business. In so far as volatility in stock returns is undesirable, our results suggest that the use of CSR practices such as marketing causes and green initiatives could be a smart approach to hospitality firms. Companies who fund marketing linked to cause tend to be socially accountable. The positive image of a product contributes to an increased market value that in effect affects the company's risk reduction positively. Nevertheless, businesses in the hospitality sector, which plan to use CSR for risk management, must understand it is not a "one shoe fits all" trend to choose CSR programs. When activity is very consistent with the image of the company and its products, the CSR effect on consumers is increased. Smart CSR practices can also shield an organization from fluctuations in cash flow, while increasing its shareholder value (in the form of focused contributions, community support, environmental projects and organizational responsibility).
- Country Club Members’ Perceptions of Value, Image Congruence, and Switching Costs: an Exploratory Study of Country Club Members’ Loyalty [Summary]Kamruzzaman, Md (Virginia Tech, 2020-03-06)This study confirmed the significant effect of perceived value on customer satisfaction. When members perceived a great value in membership, they became satisfied. In addition, the study revealed the significant effect of image congruence on member satisfaction. Consistent with previous studies, when members perceived that typical member image was congruent with their self-images, their satisfaction levels were enhanced. As evidenced from the mediating role of satisfaction, image congruence and perceived value also indirectly contribute to member loyalty by satisfying members. That is, satisfied members tend to spread positive feedback to others and show great willingness to stay with a club.
- Customer Engagement in Hospitality and Tourism Services [Summary]Kamruzzaman, Md (Virginia Tech, 2020-02-25)Marketing research has shown that customer relationship management can reduce the consequences of service failure. But the question is for how long an instance of Customer Engagement (CE) may influence a current critical incident, such as whether and how company–customer interactions during childhood may continue to influence the effects of service failure. Papen et al. (2020) posit that engagement with a company during childhood (childhood engagement) can affect subsequent perceptions of the relationship. Through an experiment with 152 participants, their study reveals that perceived controllability and childhood engagement moderate the effect of disappointment on repurchase intention. Customers with childhood engagement evaluate a service failure more favorably than customers without such experiences. Furthermore, customers are likely to react negatively if the company was deemed responsible for the failure. Accordingly, from a managerial perspective, childhood engagement and credible communication can prevent the dissolution of a customer relationship after service failure. This special issue covers several important topics in CE in the hospitality and tourism domain. The results of these studies provide significant theoretical and practical implications for the industry. We sincerely hope readers will find this special issue informative and useful. More important, we hope that this issue offers some directions for future scholarly inquiry into CE’s nature, dynamics, and evolution.
- Customer Orientation, Learning Orientation, and New Service Development: An Empirical Investigation of the Swiss Hotel Industry [Summary]Kamruzzaman, Md (Virginia Tech, 2020-03-18)The study addresses the impact of New Service Development (NSD) on performance and the key antecedents to NSD in a comprehensive, empirically verified model. We thereby fill a significant gap in the understanding of new service development in the hotel industry, the nature of relationships between NSD and the key variables that drive it, and the effect of NSD on hotel performance. The results provide an initial benchmark for organizational strategy attributes apparent in conjunction with certain contingencies in a hotel’s operating environment. Several contributions to various research streams are noteworthy. "This article summary is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (CC BY).
- Customer Satisfaction in the Hotel Industry: Meaning and Measurement [Summary]Kamruzzaman, Md (Virginia Tech, 2020-03-18)The customer satisfaction construct developed and implemented in this study is composed of three different sub dimensions relating to a hotel’s products and services: expectations, perceived performance, and importance. This construct is derived from the disconfirmation paradigm and expectancy-value theories. Although the disconfirmation paradigm is generally accepted as the construct that best explains customer satisfaction (Cadotte, et al., 1987), the impact of attribute importance on consumer decision making is also widely recognized (Heeler, et al.). Elements from each of these research traditions were combined to form the customer satisfaction model presented in this study. The independent variables from Carmen’s (1990) quality model are the same as those representing the independent variables in the current model. This also supports the inclusion of these specific terms as well as their relationship with each other. The current model yields a customer satisfaction score as a result of the interaction of these terms. This model was positively evaluated through the results of empirical testing at a large urban hotel. The customer satisfaction score (CS) was positively assessed for issues of reliability and validity. The data generated by this study were analyzed by market segment, compiled in various formats, and submitted to the hotel’s management for review (Barsky, 1992). The hotel’s response focused on the attributes related to customer satisfaction and with the associated immediate value for operational and marketing decision making. "This article summary is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (CC BY).
- Defining the Hospitality Discipline: a Discussion of Pedagogical and Research Implications [Summary]Kamruzzaman, Md (Virginia Tech, 2020-03-19)In summary, the field of hospitality has interesting and interdependent relationships with its constituent industries (lodging, foodservice, travel, leisure, attractions, and conventions). Each independent industry takes input from the hospitality field either directly or indirectly for its survival and success, and in turn they offer an output that promotes the field of hospitality. This relationship is very interdependent in nature, which results in the often quoted multiplier effect of tourism. There is obviously no common shared paradigm of what is meant by hospitality. If hospitality research and practice are to progress, hospitality research must develop a rigorous theory based on research that clearly defines hospitality. This would strengthen the aim toward establishing hospitality as a legitimate academic discipline of its own right. "This article summary is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (CC BY).
- Developing In-House Careers and Retaining Management Talent: What Hospitality Professionals Want from Their Jobs [Summary]Kamruzzaman, Md (Virginia Tech, 2020-02-13)High turnover rates represent one of the primary challenges the hospitality industry faces. The writers in this report investigate the retirement plans of one of the most important classes of employees: administrative workers. The writers define job traits that increase the level of commitment of executives to their companies and the business as a whole, as well as reduce the likelihood of both quitting. Results suggest hospitality executives should take care of their jobs. They are searching for demanding jobs that offer opportunities for growth, as well as competent leadership and fair pay. To the degree that these work elements are in operation, the level of commitment of the hospitality managers will improve. The dedication of managers in conduct difficult tasks specifically decreases their probability of quitting their firms and industry.
- Dimensions of the Glass Ceiling in the Hospitality Industry [Summary]Kamruzzaman, Md (Virginia Tech, 2020-02-13)Research on the glass ceiling are mainly abstract or historical, identifying the invisible barrier that continues to prevent women and people of color from elevation to top echelons of companies. This study specifically focused on women, and surveyed 234 female executives in the hospitality sector. The research used factor analysis to determine the fundamental factors that could help or impede the advancement of women to executive positions. Results suggest that there are four dimensions that include advertising attributes, eight dimensions related to women's personal approaches and four dimensions related to business strategies for promoting women's professional careers. The four essential qualities are: sufficient temperament, street smarts, political know-how and intellect (although the last aspect has the lowest effect on promotions). These include: being involved in leadership and professional development, making sacrifices, establishing support systems (including mentors) and willing to make improvements (including moving to new places or employers). The organizational considerations include these four aspects: systematic procedures, such as recognizing talented people and preparing people for promotion; rejecting negative stereotypes; and empowering and supporting women in their search of promotion. While the components relevant to advancing women can be identified, other promotional ways are presented by the hospitality industry-and the variables are weighted differently for each person. That is, there's a lot of roads up there.
- Discrete Negative Emotions and Customer Dissatisfaction Responses in a Casual Restaurant Setting [Summary]Kamruzzaman, Md (Virginia Tech, 2020-03-19)The current study has several practical implications for hospitality organizations. First, the results suggest that different negative emotions may lead to different behavioral intentions. Angry customers, in particular, can be very harmful to the firm, as they are determined to act on the failure with various confrontive coping behaviors. Rather than trying to forget the incident, angry customers are likely to engage in face-to-face complaining, switch to another company, or spread negative WOM about the service provider. Although the study did not include third-party actions in this study, angry customers might also engage in third party complaining, such as writing letters to newspapers or taking legal actions (Bougie et al., 2003). Moreover, the findings suggest that it is difficult to soothe angry customers with a simple correction (e.g., replace the wrong order) and an apology. Although such recovery efforts might be adequate to mitigate the impact of disappointment on postrecovery satisfaction, more effortful recovery strategies are needed to win back angry customers. In such situations, restaurants need to consider high correction strategies, such as offering free food, discounts, and/or managerial intervention (Hoffman et al., 1995; Susskind, 2005). The finding further suggests that hospitality organizations might want to invest in training their customer-contact employees to decode customers’ emotional cues. "This article summary is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (CC BY).
- Effect of Cognitive Engagement on the Development of Brand Love in a Hotel Context [Summary]Kamruzzaman, Md (Virginia Tech, 2020-02-12)Throughout hospitality literature the idea of brand love is constantly being examined, as are numerous perspectives throughout sociology. But the relationship between engagement process and brand love has been largely overlooked. Findings pointed out the necessary and sufficient requirements for the cognitive relationship to establish affection, passion and commitment, each of the three dimensions of the brand's love. Furthermore, the research shows that cognitive engagement needs to be accompanied by cognitive belief in order to develop into loyalty, by affirmation of the mediating role of cognitive branding in the relationship between cognitive engagement and brand affection. The results suggest that managers should concentrate not only on the content but also on the knowledge delivery process, which encourage cognitive processing and interaction of consumers. Managers need to continually interact with customers and provide them with a fun information processing environment, which allows them to be fully immersed to the experience. The successful use of technologies, such as virtual reality or touchscreens may be a way to achieve this approach. For example, in hotel buildings, self-service kiosks and check-in apps, such as the Dutch CitizenM, with low cost are launched. Customers usually handle browsing and booking details quite strongly. It is therefore necessary for hotel brands to use websites to enhance brand love and customer loyalty. Ultimately, the results show that managers must inspire consumers to encourage brand love intrinsically rather than extrinsically.
- The effect of economic crises, epidemics and terrorism on tourism [Summary]Kamruzzaman, Md (Virginia Tech, 2020-05-11)The results suggest that incidents of terrorism, epidemics and economic crises have a differential impact on the movement of tourists from various countries of origin to various destination countries. The findings for our sample countries show that the positive effect of economic crises in the destination country and the negative effect of exchange rates on incoming tourism are larger than the effects either of terrorism or of epidemics. The findings also suggest that terrorism in the origin country had a negative effect on tourism to Spain from the US and Japan, while terrorism in the destination country (Spain) had a negative effect on tourism to Spain from the UK. It is possible that terrorism in the destination country mainly affects countries that are geographically close (Spain and UK), while terrorism in the origin country affects tourism to countries that are geographically far away (US, Japan and Spain). It is interesting to note that neighboring countries were unaffected either by terrorism or by epidemics. For example, when Singapore is the destination country, tourism from Japan as an origin country was not affected. In addition, when Spain is the destination country, tourism from Germany and from France was not affected. Future research should examine the separate effects of such major events in the origin and the destination countries on incoming tourism. "This article summary is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (CC BY).
- The Effect of Recovery Locus Attributions and Service Failure Severity on Word-of-Mouth and Repurchase Behaviors in the Hospitality Industry [Summary]Kamruzzaman, Md (Virginia Tech, 2020-02-25)Hospitality-based organizations seek defect-free customer interactions but recognize the inevitability of failure. As such, it is critical to identify customers’ perceptions of failed encounters and identify recovery strategies and methods to manage these failures and related loss of customers and negative WOM. The study suggests that the agent a customer perceives to be responsible for the recovery effort is related to the customer’s subsequent behavior. When a customer attributes satisfactory recovery to the hospitality firm, he or she is more likely to discuss that encounter with a wider social network and give more positive recommendations than if he or she attributes the recovery to an employee or to the self. Effectively addressing the initial failure by the firm, as perceived by the customer, likely builds trust and reinforces perceived reliability. Most service firms realize that customer satisfaction can lead to positive behavioral intentions (e.g., loyalty), but they may not recognize the importance of being a “first mover” in correcting service failures. As service failures are inevitable, our findings offer a powerful reason for the hospitality firm taking active responsibility to resolve problems and communicating the primary role of firm policy in the recovery process. Finally, customer behavioral responses are found to be more negative when the magnitude of the initial service failure is high. In particular, customers are more likely to discuss an incident with a wider social network and are more likely to warn and convince others not to use the hospitality provider, as a service failure is perceived to increase in severity. These findings are consistent with the notion that the level of customer satisfaction is related to the magnitude of the failure (Hoffman, Kelley, & Rotalsky, 1995). To hospitality managers, these findings suggest that it is important to conduct research to clearly identify how customers perceive the severity of different failure types. Armed with information regarding failure types and related severity, the hospitality manager may be able to put processes in place that minimize the occurrence of these failure types. The findings related to the perceived magnitude of a service failure also reinforces the importance of contact employee training for hospitality professionals. Firms should train their employees to be empathetic, be good listeners, and empower experienced employees to carry out the service recovery plan when service failure occurs.
- The Effects of Coworker and Perceived Organizational Support on Hotel Employee Outcomes: The Moderating Role of Job Embeddedness [Summary]Kamruzzaman, Md (Virginia Tech, 2020-03-06)The results of this study provide useful implications for practitioners. It should be acknowledged among managers that employee retention cannot be achieved purely through money. Specifically, managers should make sure that they recruit and select the most suitable individuals for the organization. Such individuals’ values, career goals, and future plans should fit well with the organizational culture and the demands of their jobs. Otherwise, it would be difficult to retain these employees in the organization. It is also important to train frontline employees concerning the critical role of coworker support. This could be done via experiential exercises and case studies. Since such employees have intense face-to-face or voice-to-voice interactions with customers, they are likely to be faced with various problems they may not be able to handle. Therefore, they may be in need of support surfacing from their coworkers. The availability of coworker support appears to be essential, because coworker support alleviates turnover intentions, and job embeddedness moderates this relationship. In addition, employees should perceive that the organization rewards their efforts and cares about their well-being. This is critical, since job embeddedness moderates the effects of perceived organizational support on both turnover intentions and service recovery performance.
- The Effects of Image Congruence on Customers’ Brand Loyalty in the Upper Middle-Class Hotel Industry [Summary]Kamruzzaman, Md (Virginia Tech, 2020-02-25)This study has provided empirical evidence for the development of customers’ repurchasing behaviors involving social and ideal social IC, CS, and attitudinal BL in the hotel industry. It has provided strong empirical support for Sirgy et al.’s (1997) IC theory. Hotel customers’ perceptive matching process between their social and ideal social concept and hotel brand image can be used to explain their postpurchase behaviors, including levels of CS and BL. Based on this study, a customer’s perception of a similar image between his or her social self-concept and the hotel brand image positively influences the satisfaction level toward the hotel. Furthermore, when satisfied with the service, the customer becomes brand loyal, holding a positive attitude toward the brand. The mediating effect of CS was evident in that customers form BL when they actually experienced positive outcomes from the service delivery process. The findings provide some practical implications for hotel operators. The results of the present study suggest that hotel marketers should develop marketing information systems that continuously monitor hotel customers’ perceptions of a hotel brand image. Selective target marketing should be carefully considered when using a hotel’s own brand image. Lodging services are characterized by intangibility, so the act of creating and maintaining a consistent brand image with overall images of a prime target market is crucial. Specifically, this is more applicable for the upscale market segment, where customers purchase not only the products but also the symbol of luxury, pride, and status (Chon, 1990). In addition, advertising should be carefully developed based on the results of the research. If the target market indicates that a major personality trait is up to date, the hotel advertising manager should develop advertising featuring a modernized layout of furnishings, colors, and logos. A good example is the change in the brand logo of the Hyatt hotels. Hyatt hotels changed their logo after they found out that it implied a conservative image, whereas their major target markets’ ideal image was more modern. The implications of this study are not limited to advertising. The décor, architecture, and appearance of personnel also increase the degree of CS by appealing to a consistent image for the hotels’ target market.
- The Effects of Reviewer Expertise on Future Reputation, Popularity, and Financial Performance of Hotels: Insights from Data-Analytics [Summary]Kamruzzaman, Md (Virginia Tech, 2020-03-19)This study investigates how reviewer expertise may influence the online reputation and popularity as well as the financial performance of hotels and how managers can use social persuasion to leverage hotel performance by responding to reviewers with expertise. Our results indicate that consumers value length of membership and reviewer badge when using online reviews for decision making. As such, the results suggest that source credibility may play an important role in evaluating the information. Reviewer expertise disclosed online is significantly and positively associated with both reputation and popularity of hotels as endorsed by subsequent consumers. When the expertise of reviewers increases (e.g., longer membership, higher badge status), their opinions not only influence online reputation and popularity of hotels but also hotel performance. Our findings indicate that, when faced with numerous reviews online, consumers more heavily weigh the opinions from reviewers with a higher level of expertise. However, the importance of reviewers’ expertise to hotel businesses and understanding of what strategy managers should employ to use such unique information remain practically less known. This study provides insights into the importance of reviews from reviewers with expertise in influencing hotels’ online reputation, popularity, and performance and how hotel managers can use such information to leverage their business performance. "This article summary is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (CC BY).
- An Empirical Analysis of Intentions to Cocreate Value in Hotels Using Mobile Devices [Summary]Kamruzzaman, Md (Virginia Tech, 2020-02-12)This research provides a detailed insight into interest cocreation in hotels and indicates that cocreation is focused on the expectations of personality and is guided by other beliefs and understandings. By using virtual reality, location-based services, encouraging user-generated content, tourist consumption can become more interactive and higher in value. A variety of managerial implications to promote and build on value-creation are presented by this study to hotel decision makers. Firstly validating trust, personalizing and custom creativity as critical contexts for guest engagement may provide insight into new hotel strategies that can bring greater benefit to all stakeholders. To be more specific, hotels that concentrate on their creative visitors, who may use smartphone checkout / checkout devices, and who use electronic tools on the property extensively based on information available from their property management and other systems (e.g., Wi-Fi networks, sales outlets). Secondly, hotels can enhance broad participation by designing more points of interaction with their guests. This will allow guests to solve their own issues and design their own experiences. Thirdly, hotel decision makers can depend on the mobile environment to promote interactions between the guests and staffs that would encourage cocreation in the context of m-commerce. Fourthly, this research discusses the role of customization in hotel use of mobile devices. Of example, hotels can digitize, unbundle and use a range of marketing techniques in all facets of the hotel facilities. In addition, hotels can further expand their mobile apps to provide customization across the broader horizontal travel.