The effect of hotel features performance on e-mouth marketing behaviors (Case study of Kish Island hotels)

Extended AbstractAbstractThe purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of hotel features performance on electronic oral marketing behaviors (studied in Kish Island hotels). The present research is applicable in terms of purpose and descriptive-survey in terms of nature and method of data collection; and is specifically based on structural equation modeling. The statistical population of the study is all customers of Kish Island hotels, which are 54 hotels and apartment hotels in the first six months of 2020. According to surveys, about 200 people have stayed in these hotels in the last 6 months, and based on the available community and Cochran's formula, 322 people have been selected by cluster sampling method as a sample. Two questionnaires were used as collection tools in the present study, including the Hotel Reputation Performance Questionnaire from Khan et al.'s (2017) questionnaire and word-of-mouth e-marketing questionnaire from the standard word-of-mouth advertising questionnaire of Bamboer et al. (2011). Findings showed that the performance of hotel features has a significant effect on word-of-mouth e-marketing behaviors. Hotel environment and facilities have a significant impact on word-of-mouth e-marketing behaviors. The competence of hotel staff has a significant effect on word-of-mouth e-marketing behaviors. The hotel-to-guest experience has a significant effect on word-of-mouth e-marketing practices. Hotel location has a significant effect on word-of-mouth e-marketing behaviors.IntroductionMarketing executives aknowledg that not only does selling products and services create value for customers, but also customer experience is an important factor in creating value. Due to the numerous challenges and interactions at the contact points, creating a memorable brand experience is important especially in the service sector. Hotels that provide a high level of quality and value in the points of contact with guests provide a good model for creating experience in service activities. They can also, by providing a complete package of services, arouse the excitement of guests to create permanent experiences and stimulate their five senses (Wiedmann et al, 2017). Guests, while choosing their accommodation hotels, pay attention to the brand of them. Having strong and well-known brands facilitates the decision-making process for hotel choosing. People today pay less attention to commercial advertising and more to what others think about the products and services we offer them. Informal communication related to products and services has a strong effect on consumer behavior, which is often greater than the messages received through advertising. These impersonal relationships are known as mouth-to-mouth, and are traditionally and in a face to face method shared between acquaintances (Izadi et al, 2019). It often seems that the increase in sales of a product or service is only due to the successful advertising of companies, but in fact the main motivation of sales is people's talking to each other about the company and its products (Khademi & Murzaei, 2020). According to the above, the main issue of the research is the effect of hotel characteristics on the word-of-mouth marketing behaviors (studied in Kish Island hotels).Theoretical literatureToday, having a powerful brand is one of the priorities of many organizations, especially service organizations. Users are looking for redundant information to reduce the uncertainty and complexity of decision-making to reuse. Therefore, electronic word-of-mouth marketing has become the main source of information, and since the hotel industry is one of the main pillars of the tourism industry and its development directly affects the growth and development of the tourism industry, it should receive the necessary attention (Konjkav Monfared & Hoseini, 2020).Noruzi et al, (2020) investigated in their study entitled the study of the mediating role of word-of-mouth electronic advertising in the relationship between the dimensions of empirical marketing and consumer buying intention (Case study: mobile Internet market). The results showed that word-of-mouth electronic advertising also had a positive and significant effect on consumer's purchase intention. The direct effect of empirical marketing as well as its indirect effect through the mediation of electronic word-of-mouth advertising on the consumer's purchase intention has also been confirmed. Khademi & Mirzaei, (2020) investigated the effect of service quality on word-of-mouth marketing with the mediating role of customer loyalty (Case study: Tejarat Bank branches in North Khorasan province). Findings showed that service quality has a positive and significant effect on customer loyalty and word-of-mouth marketing. Also, customer loyalty has a positive and significant effect on word-of-mouth marketing and that the quality of services indirectly affects word-of-mouth marketing through customer loyalty.MethodologyThe present research is an applicable research in terms of purpose, and a descriptive-survey research in terms of the method used. The statistical population of the study is all customers of Kish Island hotels, in 54 hotels and apartment hotels in the first six months of 2020. According to surveys, about 200 people have stayed in these hotels in the last 6 months, and based on the available community and Cochran's formula, 322 people have been selected as a sample and by cluster sampling method. The questionnaire of Khan et al (2017) was used to collect data on hotel reputation performance variable, and the standard word-of-mouth e-advertising questionnaire (Bamboer et al, 2011) were used to collect data on word-of-mouth e-marketing variable, which was used in the research (Moradi, 2014).Discussion and ResultsStructural equation modeling method with the help of SPSS software was used to test the research hypothesis, and inferential statistics was used to test the hypotheses. Then regression was used to test the hypotheses with pls software, which was confirmatory and content factor analysis as well as the effect of factors, and the results showed that the performance index of hotel features with a coefficient of 0.39 has a significant effect on word-of-mouth electronic marketing behaviors. At the confidence level of 0.95 and considering the t-value which is equal to 2.30, it can be said that the performance of hotel features has a significant effect on word-of-mouth electronic marketing behaviors. The GoF criterion was also used to evaluate the overall fit of the model and the measurement for the structural model. Results of average shared values ​​and average values ​​of R Squares show that: GOF value is equal to 0.66, which indicates a strong fit model. Hotel environment and facilities index with a coefficient of 0.27 has a significant effect on word-of-mouth electronic marketing behaviors. At the confidence level of 0.95 and considering the t-value which is equal to 4.83, it can be said that the hotel environment and facilities have a significant effect on word-of-mouth electronic marketing behaviors. The competency index of hotel staff with a coefficient of 0.44 has a significant effect on word-of-mouth electronic marketing behaviors. At the confidence level of 0.95 and considering the t-value which is equal to 2.23, it can be said that the competence of hotel staff has a significant effect on word-of-mouth electronic marketing behaviors. Hotel-to-guest experience index with a coefficient of 0.21 has a significant effect on electronic word-of-mouth marketing behaviors. At the confidence level of 0.95 and considering the t-value which is equal to 2.77, it can be said that the guest-to-guest hotel experience has a significant effect on electronic word-of-mouth marketing behaviors. Hotel location index with a coefficient of 0.17 has a significant effect on word-of-mouth electronic marketing behaviors. At the confidence level of 0.95 and considering the t-value which is equal to 2.18, it can be said that the location of the hotel has a significant effect on word-of-mouth electronic marketing behaviors.ConclusionThe aim of this study was to investigate the effect of hotel characteristics performance on electronic word-of-mouth marketing behaviors (case study of Kish Island hotels). The results of this study are consistent with the results of Noruzi et al (2020) and Konjkav & Hoseini (2020); the results of these researches showed that tourist loyalty also affects brand reputation. Findings of Rahpeyma & Sasanpour (2019) showed that physical components, reliability, guarantee, responsiveness and empathy have a significant effect on e-mail marketing behaviors. Also, the results of this research are consistent with the results of Tang & Yen (2019), who investigated the word-of-mouth e-marketing behaviors in a study entitled The Impact of Hotel Features (Reputation) Performance. The results show that "hotel feature performance, previous word-of-mouth e-marketing experience, and platform convenience" are the drivers of word-of-mouth e-marketing behaviors. Demographic and location preferences do not influence word-of-mouth e-marketing practices. Economic incentives also have no effect on word-of-mouth e-marketing behaviors, which suggests that a good experience cannot be bought. The performance of key features leads to the improvement of word-of-mouth e-marketing activities, but the performance of facilitative features only contributes to the praise of electronic word-of-mouth marketing. (Rah Peyma & Sasan Por, 2019) Research findings showed that physical components, reliability, guarantee, responsiveness and empathy have a significant effect on word-of-mouth e marketing behaviors. According to the present research, hotel managers are suggested to try to make the customers' living environment a memorable and pleasant atmosphere; because a memorable environment can be important for the customers who are going to come to this hotel; and the opinions of previous customers can also be effective in attracting new customers. The managers should try to provide a relaxing environment for customers. The appearance of the hotel staff plays an influential role in attracting new customers; Therefore, the appearance of the staff and the competence of them in different departments is very important, which managers must pay attention to

EXQ : development and validation of a multiple-item scale for assessing customer experience quality

Positioned in the deliberations related to service marketing, the conceptualisation of service quality, current service quality measurements, and the importance of the evolving construct of customer experience, this thesis develops and validates a measurement for customer experience quality (EXQ) in the context of repeat purchases of mortgage buyers in the United Kingdom. The thesis explores the relationship between the customer experience quality and the important marketing outcomes of customer satisfaction, repeat purchasing behaviour, loyalty and word-of- mouth intentions. The methodology follows Churchill’s (1979) scale development paradigm approach to scale development and is also informed by the more recent publication of Walsh and Beatty (2007). This involves creating the EXQ scale from the following sequence of research activities: (a) employing a review of the literature on service marketing, service quality, service quality measurements, and customer experience research; (b) generating an initial item pool from qualitative research; (c) purifying and validating the EXQ scale through exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and structural equation modelling (SEM). The EXQ scale explains 63 per cent of all variances in customer satisfaction, more than 86 per cent of loyalty, and more than 94 per cent of word-of-mouth intentions. This is evidence of the high explanatory power of the EXQ scale for important marketing outcomes. This thesis represents both the first empirically derived conceptualisation of customer experience and the first validated measure of customer experience quality. It reports the findings collected from three independent samples of repeat mortgage buyers from a United Kingdom bank.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Management of Tourist Destinations: the Expectations of Guests on eWOM Generation in Maldonado (Uruguay)

[Abstract] The purpose of this paper is to examine the importance of exceeding the expectations of guests to generate greater satisfaction, in order to offer an unforgettable experience and generate more comments on the Web 2.0 in the context of tourism. Structural equation models were used. The data for the analysis were obtained from a sample of residents of the Maldonado-Punta del Este conurbation (Uruguay), who were asked about their last overnight stay. The proposed structural equation model was tested using the partial least square (PLS) technique. The results show that exceeding the expectations of guests is essential for the clients’ experience and very important for the satisfaction with the stay at the hotel. The generation of online comments (electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM)) is also strongly influenced by emotional experiences. Exceeding the expectations of trained clients and surprising them with new services and experiences is the essence of luxury offers. The main practical implication is that exceeding expectations is the key to eWOM, and this means that managers must be involved in a perpetual process of service innovation

Influencing Factors of Catering O2O Customer Experience: An Approach Integrating Big Data Analytics with Grounded Theory

In the era of digital economy, catering O2O is developing rapidly. Catering O2O (catering online to offline), namely catering takeout in the paper, means that customers place an order through online ordering platform, and delivery persons deliver the food provided by catering enterprises offline. Catering O2O conforms to the trend of the digital economy era, but exposes a variety of problems, such as lower feedback rate of the platform, lower timeliness of acceptance and handling, lower customer feedback satisfaction, and poorer customer experience. As China\u27s leading e-commerce platform for life services, Meituan won the rating of not recommending to place an order in the report of "2020 China E-commerce User Experience and Complaint Monitoring". In order to improve customer experience and service satisfaction of catering O2O, this paper takes Meituan takeout as an example, integrates big data analytics and grounded theory to explore influencing factors of catering O2O customer experience. With the big data analytics method, the main influencing factors are obtained from 54250 customer reviews, and then the grounded theory method is used to conduct in-depth analysis on negative reviews, and influencing factors of O2O customer experience are verified and confirmed. The results show that the main influencing factors of catering O2O customer experience are catering food quality and delivery service quality and after-sale service quality. Catering food quality and delivery service quality have a significant impact on customer experience. Finally, from perspectives of catering O2O platforms and enterprises, the paper obtains management implications as follows: Catering O2O platforms should attach great importance on the service of contact points in distribution link, strengthen the last-mile delivery service quality, and improve the supervision and feedback mechanism; catering O2O enterprises should ensure the quality, portion and package of catering food, so as to improve customer experience and win electronic word-of-mouth and customer satisfaction

The Impace of Elcetronic Word-of-Mouth and Flow Experience on Continuance Intention

Online gaming is a burgeoning market with growth potential and is developing rapidly. The entertainment-oriented features of such online games play experience motives for users. The global market of games will reach approximately US$ 1.3 billion annually. The technology acceptance model (TAM), including perceived ease of use (PE) and perceived usefulness (PU) and intention in accepting new technologies, is one of the most widely examined models used to test consumer acceptance of new information technology. Electronic word of mouth (EWOM) and flow experience (FE) also influence continuance intention of online games. However, the introduction of these factors was not utilized accurately. Therefore, the challenges for service providers are to identify key obstacles affecting the continuance intention of online games. In this study, we examined the role of TAM, FE and assess the influence of TRI on these factors toward continuance intention of online games. This model was tested with data from 686 current online game players who answered an online questionnaire. The structural equation model analysis confirmed that EWOM, FE and PU have a positive effect on continuance intention with statistical significance. The implications of this study are also discussed

Electronic word of mouth in social media: The common characteristics of retweeted and favourited marketer-generated content posted on Twitter

Marketers desire to utilise electronic word of mouth (eWOM) marketing on social media sites. However, not all online content generated by marketers has the same effect on consumers; some of them are effective while others are not. This paper aims to examine different characteristics of marketer-generated content (MGC) that of which one lead users to eWOM. Twitter was chosen as one of the leading social media sites and a content analysis approach was employed to identify the common characteristics of retweeted and favourited tweets. 2,780 tweets from six companies (Booking, Hostelworld, Hotels, Lastminute, Laterooms and Priceline) operating in the tourism sector are analysed. Results indicate that the posts which contain pictures, hyperlinks, product or service information, direct answers to customers and brand centrality are more likely to be retweeted and favourited by users. The findings present the main eWOM drivers for MGC in social media.Abdulaziz Elwalda and Mohammed Alsagga

Trust and reciprocity effect on electronic word-of-mouth in online review communities

Purpose Social media developments in the last decade have led to the emergence of a new form of word of mouth (WOM) in the digital environment. Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) is considered by many scholars and practitioners to be the most influential informal communication mechanism between businesses and potential and actual consumers. The purpose of this paper is to extend knowledge about WOM in this new context by proposing a conceptual framework that enables a better understanding of how trust and reciprocity influence eWOM participation in ORCs. Design/methodology/approach This study applies non-probability convenience sampling technique to conduct a quantitative study of data from an online survey of 189 members of ORCs. Partial least squares (PLS) is used to analyse the correlations between individuals’ intention to seek opinion, to give their own opinion and to pass on the opinion of another within ORCs. Findings The data analysis reveals that opinion seeking within ORCs had a direct effect on opinion giving and opinion passing. Ability trust and integrity trust had a positive effect on opinion seeking, while benevolence trust had a direct positive effect on opinion passing. Reciprocity had a direct impact on opinion passing. While reciprocity did not affect opinion giving, the relationship between these two concepts was mediated by integrity trust. Research limitations/implications By studying the complexities that characterise the relationships between reciprocity, trust and eWOM, the study extends understanding of eWOM in ORCs. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of only a few papers that have examined the complex interrelationships between reciprocity, trust and eWOM in the context of ORCs

Critical review of the e-loyalty literature: a purchase-centred framework

Over the last few years, the concept of online loyalty has been examined extensively in the literature, and it remains a topic of constant inquiry for both academics and marketing managers. The tremendous development of the Internet for both marketing and e-commerce settings, in conjunction with the growing desire of consumers to purchase online, has promoted two main outcomes: (a) increasing numbers of Business-to-Customer companies running businesses online and (b) the development of a variety of different e-loyalty research models. However, current research lacks a systematic review of the literature that provides a general conceptual framework on e-loyalty, which would help managers to understand their customers better, to take advantage of industry-related factors, and to improve their service quality. The present study is an attempt to critically synthesize results from multiple empirical studies on e-loyalty. Our findings illustrate that 62 instruments for measuring e-loyalty are currently in use, influenced predominantly by Zeithaml et al. (J Marketing. 1996;60(2):31-46) and Oliver (1997; Satisfaction: a behavioral perspective on the consumer. New York: McGraw Hill). Additionally, we propose a new general conceptual framework, which leads to antecedents dividing e-loyalty on the basis of the action of purchase into pre-purchase, during-purchase and after-purchase factors. To conclude, a number of managerial implementations are suggested in order to help marketing managers increase their customers’ e-loyalty by making crucial changes in each purchase stage

Please, talk about it! When hotel popularity boosts preferences

Many consumers post on-line reviews, affecting the average evaluation of products and services. Yet, little is known about the importance of the number of reviews for consumer decision making. We conducted an on-line experiment (n= 168) to assess the joint impact of the average evaluation, a measure of quality, and the number of reviews, a measure of popularity, on hotel preference. The results show that consumers' preference increases with the number of reviews, independently of the average evaluation being high or low. This is not what one would expect from an informational point of view, and review websites fail to take this pattern into account. This novel result is mediated by demographics: young people, and in particular young males, are less affected by popularity, relying more on quality. We suggest the adoption of appropriate ranking mechanisms to fit consumer preferences. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd

eWOM: the effects of online consumer reviews on purchasing decision of electronic goods

Internet has become the primary source of information for a large number of consumers and it has dramatically changed the consumer behaviour. One of the main changes in modern consumer behaviour has been the transition from a passive to an active and informed consumer. Internet enables customers to share their opinions on, and experiences with, goods and services with a multitude of other consumers. Online consumer reviews are used by prospective buyers of related products who are interested in obtaining more information from people who have purchased and used a product of interest. Word-of-mouth (WOM) is one of the most important information sources when a consumer is making a purchase decision. The arrival and expansion of the Internet has extended consumers' options for gathering product information by including other consumers' comments, posted on the Internet, and has provided consumers opportunities to offer their own consumption-related advice by engaging in electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). eWOM can be defined as all informal communications directed at consumers through Internet-based technology related to the usage or characteristics of particular goods and services, or their sellers. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of, one type of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), the online consumer review, on purchasing decision of electronic products. This empirical study also focuses on the relationship between reviews and purchasing behaviour. An instrument was prepared to measure the proposed constructs, with questionnaire items taken from prior studies but adapted to fit the context of e-commerce. The survey was applied to academicians in Turkey through internet. The data was analyzed using the SPSS package. The results show that consumer reviews have a causal impact on consumer purchasing behaviour and they have an effect on choosing the products by consumer. Finally, the results and their implications are discussed