Creative User-Centered Visualization Design for Energy Analysts and Modelers

We enhance a user-centered design process with techniques that deliberately promote creativity to identify opportunities for the visualization of data generated by a major energy supplier. Visualization prototypes developed in this way prove effective in a situation whereby data sets are largely unknown and requirements open – enabling successful exploration of possibilities for visualization in Smart Home data analysis. The process gives rise to novel designs and design metaphors including data sculpting. It suggests: that the deliberate use of creativity techniques with data stakeholders is likely to contribute to successful, novel and effective solutions; that being explicit about creativity may contribute to designers developing creative solutions; that using creativity techniques early in the design process may result in a creative approach persisting throughout the process. The work constitutes the first systematic visualization design for a data rich source that will be increasingly important to energy suppliers and consumers as Smart Meter technology is widely deployed. It is novel in explicitly employing creativity techniques at the requirements stage of visualization design and development, paving the way for further use and study of creativity methods in visualization design

Tourist experiences and word-of-mouth: the mediating effect of memory

Doctor of PhilosophyDepartment of Hospitality Management and DieteticsRebecca GouldChihyung OkOffering memorable experiences to customers is an effective marketing strategy in hospitality and tourism. However, the effects of memorable experiences have remained largely unexamined. Two research models were proposed through a literature review to present the antecedents that effectively lead to memorizing travel experiences. Since researchers in customer service management have recently claimed the significance of creating good memories related to consumption experiences, this study developed the discussion on links among the antecedents and memory and hypothesized the sequential relationships among the constructs. Study 1 examined the relationships between antecedents (experience quality, hedonic value, utilitarian value, and satisfaction) and post-experience memory in cruise tourism. Using an online survey, 375 vacationers who traveled on an ocean cruise ship were recruited. Structure Equation Modeling showed that the experience quality of cruise travel consisting of seven experience dimensions had a positive influence on helping memory formation through hedonic value and utilitarian value. The results underscored the critical effect of memory on word-of-mouth. This study documented that hedonic value driven by travel experience quality had a more important role in delivering the effect to memory than utilitarian value. However, in the research model of study 1, satisfaction was not connected to memory. Mediation effect analysis individually tested the partial mediating role of memory in the relationship between hedonic value/utilitarian value/satisfaction and word-of-mouth. Study 2 examined the effects of emotions on memory, particularly the potential moderating effect of arousal on the relationship between valence and memory. This study not only proposed the direct influence of arousal and valence on memory, but also hypothesized the quasi-moderating effect of arousal in amplifying the influence of valence on increasing memory. The results of hierarchical regression analysis using the dataset of 375 samples presented the direct relationships between arousal/valence and memory were shown although the hypothesis regarding the moderating role of arousal was rejected. Two emotional dimensions (arousal and valence) were found to be significant predictors of increased memory quality, but the moderating effect of arousal was not supported. Based on the findings of this study, practical implications for the tourism industry are provided, along with future research ideas

Detecting consumer emotions on social networking websites

The social networking environment goes beyond connecting friends. It also connects customers with companies and vice versa. Customers share their experience with friends, followers, and companies and these experiences carry sentiments and emotions thereby creating big data. There is an ocean of data that is available for companies to extract and make meaning out of it by applying to different business contexts such as consumer feedback analysis and marketing & communications. For companies to benefit from consumer emotion data, they must make use of computational methods that can save time and work consumed by traditional consumer research methods such as questionnaires and interviews. The objective of this research is to explore existing literatures on detecting consumer emotions from social networking data. The author carried out a systematic literature review on research articles from three bibliographic databases with the intent to find out social networking data extraction process, dataset sizes, computational methods used, consumer sentiments, emotions studied, limitations and its application in a managerial context. To further understand consumer emotion detection, a case study in the form of a Twitter marketing campaign was conducted to emulate the process of consumer emotion detection on a company that is selling stress management products and services. The results indicate that most companies use Twitter networking platform to carry out consumer emotion analysis. The dataset sizes range from small to very large. The studies have used variety of computational methods, some with accuracies to measure the performance. These methods have been applied in various industries such as travel, restaurant, healthcare, and finance to name a few. Managerial applications include marketing, supply chain, feedback analysis, product development, and customer satisfaction. There are few limitations that were identified from using these methods. The case study results and discussion with the case company CIO communicated the potential for the use of some of the methods for consumer behavior research. The valuable feedback from the CIO revealed that by customizing existing methods, their company can create new tools and methods to understand their customers by providing better recommendations and customize their offerings to individual customers

The case study of Sheraton Cascais Resort

Nowadays the number of hotels that feel the need to change their brands is increasingly a reality present in the hotel industry. Based on this industry characteristic, the present thesis aims to study the implementation process of rebranding an independent hotel into a hotel chain through the case study of Sheraton Cascais Resort. Supported by a review of the existing literature on this topic, the case study presents a real analysis in terms of implementing the rebranding process in hospitality. The methodology of analysis concentrates a deductive method of direct observation where all data collected derives from the accomplishment of a 6-month internship within the property and from interviews conducted to the hotel General Manager and Human Resources Director. The study is limited to the component directly visible to the guest, due to the existence of strict brand privacy and confidentiality policies that do not allow analyzing or making public information regarding the internal component of service. All the research conducted throughout the case study allowed recognizing that the correct implementation of rebranding follows all four and sequential phases proposed by the Ahonen´s (2008) model. Future studies should be carried out allowing following the hotel at a stage before, during and after rebranding, in order to investigate the rebranding outcome with greater accuracyAtualmente, o número de hotéis que sentem a necessidade de mudar a sua marca é cada vez mais uma realidade presente na indústria hoteleira. Tendo por base esta característica da indústria, a presente tese visa estudar a implementação do processo de rebranding de um hotel independente num hotel de cadeia, através do estudo de caso do Sheraton Cascais Resort. Suportado por uma revisão da literatura existente sobre esta temática, o estudo de caso apresenta e expõe uma análise real em termos de implementação do processo de rebranding na hotelaria. A metodologia de análise concentra um método dedutivo de observação direta onde todos os dados recolhidos derivam da realização de um estágio de 6 meses na da propriedade e de entrevistas realizadas ao Diretor Geral e à Diretora de Recursos Humanos do hotel. O estudo é limitado à componente diretamente visível pelo hóspede, devido à existência de rígidas políticas de privacidade e confidencialidade da marca que não permitem analisar ou tornar pública informação relativa à componente interna do serviço. Toda a pesquisa realizada ao longo do caso de estudo permitiu reconhecer que a correta implementação de rebranding segue as quatro fases sequenciais propostas pelo modelo de Ahonen. Deverão ser realizados estudos futuros permitindo acompanhar o hotel numa fase anterior, durante e posterior ao rebranding, a fim de se investigar a fase dos resultados de rebranding com maior precisão

The Impact of Social Media Marketing on Promoting the Cultural Heritage Tourism: A Case Study of Portugal

Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Data Driven Marketing, specialization in Digital Marketing and AnalyticsThis research is the result of an exploratory and descriptive investigation that focuses on analyzing 21 social media profiles of entities related to the cultural and heritage tourism sectors in Portugal. The purpose is to gather concrete data and observe the most successful social media marketing strategies employed by these entities. The research aims to address two main research questions: “How can social media marketing contribute to the building and strengthening of Portuguese Cultural Heritage and Tourism?” and “How can marketers incorporate virtual reality into a marketing strategy in the cultural tourism and heritage sectors and derive value from it?”. Therefore, the intention is to explore how social media platforms can be leveraged to promote and attract visitors to Portuguese cultural heritage sites and tourism destinations. By analyzing the social media profiles of relevant entities, the research seeks to identify effective strategies that contribute to the overall promotion and enhancement of Portugal's cultural heritage and tourism offerings. The research also aims to investigate how virtual reality can be integrated into marketing strategies within the cultural tourism and heritage sectors. Virtual reality has the potential to provide immersive and interactive experiences, allowing potential visitors to engage with cultural and heritage sites virtually. The study seeks to explore how marketers can harness virtual reality technologies to create valuable and engaging content that entices visitors and enhances their overall experience. By examining the social media profiles and activities of these entities, the research aims to provide insights into successful social media marketing practices, as well as explore the potential of virtual reality in marketing strategies for cultural tourism and heritage sectors. The findings of this research can help tourism organizations understand the impact of consumers' behavior and preferences and guide them in making informed decisions about their marketing and promotional efforts