Museum Mobile Guide Preferences of Different Visitor Personas

Personalising museum mobile guides is widely acknowledged as being important for enhancing the visitor experience. Due to the lack of information about an individual visitor and the relatively limited time of his or her visit, adapting the user interface based on a museum visitor's type is a promising approach to personalisation. This approach first requires a mechanism to identify the visitor type (‘persona’) and, second, knowledge of the preferences and needs of different types to apply personalisation. In this article, we report a face-to-face questionnaire study carried out with 105 visitors to Scitech, a science and technology visitor centre. The study aims to investigate the main facts required to identify a visitor persona and to explore the preferences of different visitor personas for particular mobile guide features. We limited our concern to the user interface features of the guide (e.g., whether it provides recommendations for related items to view) rather than what content and services the guide provides (e.g., what related items are recommended). We found that we can reliably identify the visitor persona using two multiple choice questions about visit motivation and perceived success criteria. In addition, we found that visitors have significant preferences for particular features such as presentation media, venue navigation tool, object suggestions, details level, accessing external links, exhibit information retrieval method and social interaction features such as voice communication, instant messaging, group games and challenges. Some features were found to be preferred differently by different personas such as the challenges feature, some were found to be preferred by personas differently to the overall preference such as in presentation media, and some were found to be preferred by some personas with no particular preference for others such as a venue navigation tool. Instant messaging was found to be significantly not preferred by all personas. The results provide a basis for personalisation of museum guides and services using a personas approach, which is a solution where data about individual users may be limited and where the individual configuration of a user interface may not be practical or warranted

Entrepreneurial Marketing as a Way for Chinese SMEs to Operate Effectively in a Transition Economy

Entrepreneurial marketing is both a theoretical and practical construct at the interface between entrepreneurship and marketing, with a relatively long existence, but insufficiently developed in theoretical terms. Most evidence of effective EM practice is Western in nature. Little attempt has been made to explore entrepreneurial marketing in transition economies, such as China. This research builds on the limited work to date on the practical aspect of the role of EM in a transition economy, China. The findings of this research are generated from qualitative research through in-depth interviews and participant observation. To investigate the role of EM among Chinese SMEs, Morris et al. (2002)’s seven dimensions framework is applied. The findings show that all dimensions of EM have been internalised and applied effectively in marketing activities among Chinese SMEs with promising results. The results also confirm a positive link between the core EM elements (including networking, word of mouth marketing, creativity) and Chinese SMEs’ performance. EM provides Chinese SMEs with new opportunities in overcoming obstacles posed by certain limitations, such as constrains in business financing, underdeveloped free market, industry barriers, and so on. While traditional marketing is causal logic-based, EM decision-making tends to be effectual. Through using Sarasvathy (2009)’s principles of effectuation, this research assessed the part played by Chinese entrepreneurs in shaping a business venture. The findings show that all participant Chinese entrepreneurs had applied effectuation logic in their decision-making, especially when they first started their businesses. Chinese entrepreneurs display sufficient signs of effectuation reasoning and play an essential role in shaping a new business venture. The finding also confirms that all dimensions of EM and principles of effectuation are not independent; instead, they can all be regarded as complementary elements. Chinese SMEs share EM and effectuation elements such as relying on networking, relationship building, adopting a bottom-up approach, use resources at hand, use creative ways to leverage limited resources, achieve control of the future, and so on. Being more entrepreneurial in marketing, employing both entrepreneurial orientation and market orientation as well as applying effectual decision making help Chinese SMEs to operate effectively in the turbulent business environment

Entrepreneurial marketing and technology orientation: a case-based study of the UK energy service industry

The aim of this PhD research is to address the role of Technology Orientation (TO) and Entrepreneurial Marketing (EM) in new firms within the energy service industry. It mainly focuses on how Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO), Market Orientation (MO) and TO (inclusive of digitally enhanced marketing activities) contribute towards young firms' EM performance. The Technology Entrepreneurship Marketing and Performance (TEMP) model is conceptualised and developed using extant theory and mixed qualitative methodologies including semi-structured interviews and observational web-based research. Findings identified several themes identified in earlier EM literature and five new emerging themes that offer insights into the potential relationship between EO, MO and traditional (administrative) marketing and digital marketing. From this, the research conceptualises technology driven marketing techniques as being a significant part of a firm's TO and this implicitly compliments the entrepreneur's ability to market the firm, products and services to customers. Implications include the implicit value of a combined EM approach which includes TO, and widening the research agenda to include new policy driven SMEs in 'green' technology industries

The Impact and Support of Constructivist Learning Environments to Develop Entrepreneurial and Enterprising Graduates to Enhance Employability

Governments have encouraged higher education institutions (HEIs) to develop entrepreneurial, innovative and highly employable graduates. Accordingly, employability, enterprise and entrepreneurship are all high on the agendas of United Kingdom (UK) HEIs (Sewell and Dacre Pool, 2010) and the use of constructivist approaches, such as experiential learning and problem based learning, may offer an effective way to develop the entrepreneurial, enterprising and employability skills that both graduates and employers need. Constructivist approaches in higher education (HE) have become increasingly common across a wide range of disciplines in recent decades. This is particularly true in the field of entrepreneurship where the development of entrepreneurial skills requires different hands-on or experience based approaches to the more traditional didactic lecture based teaching methods (Jones and English, 2004; Jones and Iredale, 2010; Zahra and Welter, 2008). Constructivism lends itself to active based learning approaches which can result in improved problem solving skills, improved knowledge retention, and improved motivation (Bonwell and Eison, 1991; Rhem, 1998; Snyder, 2003). Furthermore, unlike didactic teaching approaches, constructivist active learning can lead to changes in both thought and attitude, and the development of behavioural skills (Bligh, 2000; Grimley et al., 2011). Whilst there is much practical practitioner based research focusing on the implementation of constructivist enterprise education, there is limited existing research focusing on the constructivist learning theory underpinning constructivism. This has led to a degree of separation between practitioner-based research and constructivist learning theory in abstraction and application. This thesis addresses three research questions • How can constructivism be applied to enterprise education in HE? • What is the relationship between constructivist learning environments and the development of enterprising graduates? • How can learning environments be created and implemented to effectively support the development of enterprising graduates? This thesis investigates a range of constructivist pedagogic interventions across a range of academic levels, subjects, and disciplines, both within and outside of formal curricula, to explore their ability to develop enterprising skills and to consider how they can be created, developed and implemented to effectively support the development of these skills. In addition, the portfolio contains an assessment of the relationship between a range of entrepreneurial attitudes and the likelihood of graduate employment in a professional field six months after graduation in Paper 1. This provides some quantitative evidence that enterprising skills that can be developed by constructivist active learning can have an impact on graduate employability. This portfolio provides a strong case for the use of constructivist approaches in developing a wide range of entrepreneurial and enterprising skills that graduates require, enhancing their employability and enabling them to be more enterprising. These skills included developing a proactive disposition, achievement motivation, self-efficacy, interpersonal skills, team working, communication skills, planning, attitude to risk, leadership and a preference for innovation. This portfolio found support for the contention that in general, students respond positively to these approaches and satisfaction levels are high e.g. in Paper 5 and in Paper 6. However, Papers 2 and 4 highlighted the importance of adequate temporary scaffolding, where appropriate, to ensure access to learning for all students. The learning points that can be taken from the portfolio to help develop and create the best pedagogy and constructivist learning environment for students to maximise the benefits of constructivism are summarised in Appendix 2. Paper 7 considers the development of a constructivist intervention that involves external stakeholders. This research focused on the perspectives of students, faculty and stakeholders to better understand the creation, implementation, and development of such pedagogic interventions. This thesis concludes that enterprise education in HE should be based not only on didactic teaching but should also involve the application of constructivist active learning approaches (particularly experiential learning) based and grounded on constructivist learning theory to develop enterprise skills. Thus enterprise education can be viewed as a mixture or fusion of didactic teaching to impart essential theoretical knowledge and the application of constructivist learning approaches which seek to develop experiential knowledge and skills, which can be developed through both experience and reflection. This thesis contributes to knowledge by combining constructivist learning theory and practice based research to underpin the application of constructivism in enterprise education. It provides additional depth and breadth to research on constructivist pedagogy, using a range of research methods across a range of educational settings, to support the development of enterprise skills and employability. It identifies how to achieve best practice in the delivery of constructivist learning through the implementation of constructivist learning principles and highlights the pivotal role of the educator in supporting student learning in a constructivist learning environment

FREE STATE TOURISM SMMEs’ UTILISATION OF SOCIAL MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES FOR BUSINESS COMPETITIVENESS: A STAKEHOLDERS’ PERSPECTIVE

Published ThesisThis study examines Free State tourism SMMEs’ utilisation of social media technologies to market and brand their products/services to gain business competitiveness. There is a growing concern about South African tourism SMMEs’ inability to successfully compete with large tourist corporations and create robust stakeholder relations due to their incapacity and reluctance to use emerging technologies with a global reach such as social media technologies (SMTs). Despite the general public’s popular usage of SMTs, South African SMMEs’ utilisation of these technologies by remains speculative. Moreover, despite the recognised strategic importance of SMMEs to the developing countries’ economies, their level of competitiveness remains undermined by their failure to reach a broader customer base due to their utilisation of traditional technologies such as television and newspapers for marketing their activities. Unfortunately, these traditional communication tools do not promote interactive engagement between tourism SMMEs and their broad spectrum of stakeholders as they promote one-way, monologue communication. Drawing on a positivist epistemology and quantitative approach, a survey was conducted on 234 tourism SMMEs’ owner/managers in the Free State province. Only 123 questionnaires were correctly completed, representing a response rate of 53%. Subsequently, data was analysed using descriptive and inferential analysis; mainly correlation and regression analysis. The findings revealed that although tourism SMMEs in the Free State Province employ SMTs to market and brand their products/services for their customers and suppliers, other stakeholders such as government regulators, competitors and investors were least interacted via such platforms. The findings further highlighted that there is a statistically significant relationship between competitiveness and marketing elements (i.e. branding and marketing), competitiveness and networking (i.e. external and internal networking), and competitiveness and stakeholders (i.e. competitors, investors and regulators). The study recommends tourism SMMEs to develop more comprehensive and robust stakeholder engagement to identify all relevant stakeholders critical to their marketing and branding activities, and manage stakeholder needs and expectations in an equitable, transparent and more balanced manner

Virtual Guidance using Mixed Reality in Historical Places and Museums

Mixed Reality (MR) is one of the most disruptive technologies that shows potential in many application domains, particularly in the tourism and cultural heritage sector. MR using the latest headsets with the highest capabilities introduces a new visual platform that can change people’s visual experience. This thesis introduces a HoloLens-based mixed reality guidance system for museums and historical places. This new guidance form considers the inclusiveness of the necessary and optimised functionalities, visual and audio guiding abilities, essential roles of a guide, and the related social interactions in the real-time. A mixed reality guide, dubbed ‘MuseumEye’ was designed and developed for the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, to overcome challenges currently facing the museum, e.g. lack of guiding methods, limited information signposted on the exhibits, lack of visitor engagement resulting in less time spent in the museum compared to other museums with similar capacity and significance. These problems motivated the researcher to conduct an exploratory study to investigate the museum environment and guiding methods by interviewing 10 participants and observing 20 visitors. ‘MuseumEye’ was built based on a literature review of immersive systems in museums and the findings of an exploratory study that reveals visitor behaviours and the nature of guidance in the museum. This project increased levels of engagement and the length of time visitors spend in museums, the Egyptian Museum in Cairo in particular, using the mixed reality technology that provides visitors with additional visual, audio information and computer-generated images at various levels of details and via different media. This research introduces the guidelines of designing immersive reality guide applications using the techniques of spatial mapping, designing the multimedia and UI, and designing interactions for exploratory purposes. The main contributions of this study include various theoretical contributions: 1) creating a new form of guidance that enhances the museum experience through developing a mixed reality system; 2) a theoretical framework that assesses mixed reality guidance systems in terms of perceived usefulness, ease of use, enjoyment, interactivity, the roles of a guide and the likelihood of future use; 3) the Ambient Information Visualisation Concept for increasing visitor engagement through better presenting information and enhancing communication and interaction between visitors and exhibits; and a practical contribution in creating a mixed reality guidance system that reshapes the museum space, enhances visitors’ experience and significantly increases the length of time they spend in the museum. The evaluation comprised of quantitative surveys (171 participants and 9 experts) and qualitative observation (51 participants) using MuseumEye in their tours. The results showed positive responses for all measured aspects and compares these to similar studies. The observation results showed that visitors who use MuseumEye spent four times the duration visitors spent without guides or with human guides in front of exhibited items. The quantitative results showed significant correlations between the measured constructs (perceived usefulness, ease of use, enjoyment, multimedia and UI, interactivity) and the likelihood of future use when the roles of guide mediate the relations. Moreover, the ‘perceived guidance’ is the most influential construct on the likelihood of future use of MuseumEye. The results also revealed a high likelihood of future use, which ensures the sustainability of adopting mixed reality technology in museums. This thesis shows the potential of mixed reality guides in the museum sector that reshape the museum space and offers endless possibilities for museums and heritage sites

Virtual Guidance using Mixed Reality in Historical Places and Museums

Mixed Reality (MR) is one of the most disruptive technologies that shows potential in many application domains, particularly in the tourism and cultural heritage sector. MR using the latest headsets with the highest capabilities introduces a new visual platform that can change people’s visual experience. This thesis introduces a HoloLens-based mixed reality guidance system for museums and historical places. This new guidance form considers the inclusiveness of the necessary and optimised functionalities, visual and audio guiding abilities, essential roles of a guide, and the related social interactions in the real-time. A mixed reality guide, dubbed ‘MuseumEye’ was designed and developed for the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, to overcome challenges currently facing the museum, e.g. lack of guiding methods, limited information signposted on the exhibits, lack of visitor engagement resulting in less time spent in the museum compared to other museums with similar capacity and significance. These problems motivated the researcher to conduct an exploratory study to investigate the museum environment and guiding methods by interviewing 10 participants and observing 20 visitors. ‘MuseumEye’ was built based on a literature review of immersive systems in museums and the findings of an exploratory study that reveals visitor behaviours and the nature of guidance in the museum. This project increased levels of engagement and the length of time visitors spend in museums, the Egyptian Museum in Cairo in particular, using the mixed reality technology that provides visitors with additional visual, audio information and computer-generated images at various levels of details and via different media. This research introduces the guidelines of designing immersive reality guide applications using the techniques of spatial mapping, designing the multimedia and UI, and designing interactions for exploratory purposes. The main contributions of this study include various theoretical contributions: 1) creating a new form of guidance that enhances the museum experience through developing a mixed reality system; 2) a theoretical framework that assesses mixed reality guidance systems in terms of perceived usefulness, ease of use, enjoyment, interactivity, the roles of a guide and the likelihood of future use; 3) the Ambient Information Visualisation Concept for increasing visitor engagement through better presenting information and enhancing communication and interaction between visitors and exhibits; and a practical contribution in creating a mixed reality guidance system that reshapes the museum space, enhances visitors’ experience and significantly increases the length of time they spend in the museum. The evaluation comprised of quantitative surveys (171 participants and 9 experts) and qualitative observation (51 participants) using MuseumEye in their tours. The results showed positive responses for all measured aspects and compares these to similar studies. The observation results showed that visitors who use MuseumEye spent four times the duration visitors spent without guides or with human guides in front of exhibited items. The quantitative results showed significant correlations between the measured constructs (perceived usefulness, ease of use, enjoyment, multimedia and UI, interactivity) and the likelihood of future use when the roles of guide mediate the relations. Moreover, the ‘perceived guidance’ is the most influential construct on the likelihood of future use of MuseumEye. The results also revealed a high likelihood of future use, which ensures the sustainability of adopting mixed reality technology in museums. This thesis shows the potential of mixed reality guides in the museum sector that reshape the museum space and offers endless possibilities for museums and heritage sites