Intermediary's Elicitation and Patron's Retrieval Satisfaction

[[abstract]]An elicitation is a verbal request for information reflecting one's interests, concerns or perplexities in conversation. Elicitation behavior in studies of information retrieval interaction is, in fact, the micro-level of information-seeking behavior in which the user and the intermediary exchange information to fill the gaps in one's internal state of knowledge. This study aims to understand the intermediary's elicitation behavior in terms of linguistic forms, communicative functions (illocutionary force) and utterance purposes (semantic contents) and further to identify the relationship between intermediary's individual differences and search results satisfaction. Research methods include participatory observation, conversation analysis, content analysis and statistical analysis of elicitation frequencies and questionnaires. Our research results successfully identify the three dimensions of intermediary's elicitation behavior and characterize intermediary's inquiring minds and elicitation styles. Further analysis shows that there exists a significant relationship between inquiring minds/elicitation styles and user's relevance judgment of search results.

Search procedures revisited

Search Procedures reflects on a series of studies carried out over a four year period in the late 1970s. It was published at an interesting time for Information Retrieval. Written before Information Retrieval became synonymous with online information seeking it focuses on Information Retrieval within Public Libraries, then the major location for everyday information seeking. While many of his contemporaries focused on information seeking in academic or special library settings, Peter chose instead to focus a setting that was visited by a more diverse set of people with a broader range of information needs

An Investigation of Digital Reference Interviews: A Dialogue Act Approach

The rapid increase of computer-mediated communications (CMCs) in various forms such as micro-blogging (e.g. Twitter), online chatting (e.g. digital reference) and community- based question-answering services (e.g. Yahoo! Answers) characterizes a recent trend in web technologies, often referred to as the social web. This trend highlights the importance of supporting linguistic interactions in people\u27s online information-seeking activities in daily life - something that the web search engines still lack because of the complexity of this hu- man behavior. The presented research consists of an investigation of the information-seeking behavior of digital reference services through analysis of discourse semantics, called dialogue acts, and experimentation of automatic identification of dialogue acts using machine-learning techniques. The data was an online chat reference transaction archive, provided by the Online Computing Library Center (OCLC). Findings of the discourse analysis include supporting evidence of some of the existing theories of the information-seeking behavior. They also suggest a new way of analyzing the progress of information-seeking interactions using dia- logue act analysis. The machine learning experimentation produced promising results and demonstrated the possibility of practical applications of the DA analysis for further research across disciplines

E-Negotiation systems: A theoretical framework and empirical investigation

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Further research in double interaction: the simultaneous conduct of man–man and man–computer interaction

Double interaction is the abbreviation for the simultaneous conduct of man–man interaction on the one hand, and man–computer interaction, on the other. It is a recent development—certainly in this country—and roughly follows chronologically, the advent of the computer, and subsequently, the development of man–computer interaction… The general concept of double interaction is new and extends over a wide variety of situations. The objectives of research in this field are therefore necessarily different, from the painstaking systematic research devoted to a small component feature derived from a well-established field, which one often sees in doctoral dissertations. For double interaction, the lack of an established literature as well as far-ranging implications associated with too rapid an application of a new technology, leads to a different set of objectives. The need here is for an outline of the major parameters relating to double interaction over a wide variety of situations, how these parameters may interrelate, and how one or more of these parameters may be exploited to give rise to effective planning and application of double interaction. The need therefore is more of a general nature, the overall objective being the provision of the means for understanding, designing, and implementing effective double interaction situations

Practitioner experiences in academic research libraries: an interpretative phenomenological analysis of reference work

This study explores the phenomenon of reference work from the perspective of practitioners. The objectives are to analyze in-depth the attitudes, values, beliefs, stories, and thoughts of a group of academic reference librarians working in the research library context; to identify commonalities and diversity of experience among the participants; and to relate these experiences to the intellectual traditions that have been explored in the literature. Reference work is often studied and taught as a series of behaviors. Standards for reference work, such as the RUSA Guidelines for Behavioral Performance of Reference and Information Service Providers, and evaluation studies tend to focus on specific behaviors. While the behaviors that constitute reference work are important to examine, understand and assess, they do not account for a complete understanding of the phenomenon. The concept of reference work as understood by practicing reference librarians is also an important dimension. In other professions, such as teaching, counseling, nursing, and social work, decades of research on practitioner beliefs have contributed to a rich understanding of how professionals approach their work. This understanding has been used to improve professional education and continuing education. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), a method fairly new to library and information science (LIS), the study interprets the experience of reference work for eight academic research librarians. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and analyzed following the multi-stage IPA analysis process. Five themes emerged from the data to express the experience of reference work for this group: importance of the user, variety and uncertainty, fully engaged practice, sensations of reference work, and sense of self as reference professional

Golf destinations' brand personality: the case of the Algarve

The purpose of this research is to develop and validate a measurement scale to assess golf destinations’ brand personality and therefore to perceive the destination personality of the Algarve as a golf destination. Based on literature review on human personality, brand personality, destination brand image and marketing scales validation procedures, an initial 36 unrepeated items were the base for a survey instrument. Those items were generated from the literature, from the results of individual interviews with experts in tourism and golf in the Algarve and from promotional texts in golf- related websites. After content validation, the items were allocated into categories of attributes by a panel of expert judges. A survey was then applied to a convenient sample of 600 golf players in the Algarve, and 545 (valid) questionnaires were analysed to refine the scale. Golf players assessed the components of the relational brand personality (functional, symbolic and experiential) as well as the Algarve as a golf destination. A taxonomy of brand personality was developed and tested in the Algarve as it is recognized as one of the world best golf destination. The developed taxonomy of brand personality was assessed in two ways: 1) through the overall perception of the Algarve as a golf destination and 2) through the perception of specific attributes of the destination grouped into three main categories (functional, symbolic and experiential). Therefore, two multi-dimensional brand personality models were estimated by using structural equation modelling. Findings of this study indicate that golf players ascribe personality characteristics to destinations. The brand personality of the Algarve is translated into three main dimensions enjoyableness, distinctiveness and friendliness when tourists/golf players reveal their overall perception of the destination. The brand personality of golf destination Algarve is reflected in the dimensions reliability, hospitality, uniqueness and attractiveness when tourists assess the components of the relational brand personality. Refined scales consisting of 10 and 12 items were finally derived meeting both reliability and validity requirements. This study does not replicate Aaker’s (1997) personality dimensions and very little parallelism can be drawn with Aaker’s (1997) brand personality scale since only three items from her scale were validated in both models: friendly and cheerful, (sincerity), reliable (competence). The same is verified concerning the ‘Big-five’. The human personality traits (HPT) validated to describe golf destinations personality are only four helpful, pleasant (agreeableness), relaxed (emotional stability), and innovative (intellect or openness). As far as destination image descriptors (DID) are concerned, the items appealing, relaxed and safe were validated, while traits suggested by the interviews and website promotional texts such as calm, natural, spectacular, unique, welcoming, and the best (destination-specific traits) appear to be appropriate to describe the personality of a golf destination. The results suggest that the overall perception of the Algarve´s brand personality is described by the dimensions enjoyableness, distinctiveness and friendliness. Moreover, the relational perspective revealed that the functional attributes of the destination are described by the dimension reliablility, while the symbolic attributes are described by the dimensions hospitablility and uniqueness and finally its experiential attributes are described by the dimension attractiveness. These results show that a golf destination´s brand personality should not just be based on good golf practices. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed in the context of destination brand personality.Os objetivos principais desta pesquisa são validar uma escala de medida para avaliar a personalidade da marca de destinos de golfe e avaliar a personalidade da marca Algarve como destino de golfe. Para tal foi necessário efetuar uma revisão da literatura circunstanciada à temática, designadamente sobre a personalidade humana, a personalidade da marca, a imagem de marca, a imagem da marca de destinos turísticos e os procedimentos de validação de escalas de marketing. Identificados os suportes teóricos de cada sub-tema desenvolveu-se toda a fase exploratória da pesquisa na qual se recolheram, selecionaram e validaram itens para incluir na escala de avaliação a personalidade da marca de um destino de golfe. Uma lista inicial de 36 itens (não repetidos) foi a base para a construção de um instrumento de pesquisa. A fase exploratória incluiu a análise de textos promocionais retirados de sítios da internet relacionados com o golfe e agrupados em três categorias. A primeira categoria compreendeu os textos selecionados nos sítios dos campos de golfe algarvios (40), nos sítios das autoridades locais e nacionais responsáveis pela promoção do Algarve enquanto destino de golfe (5). Num segundo grupo foram selecionados textos promocionais em sítios das autoridades oficiais responsáveis por promover os destinos concorrentes do Algarve (Marrocos, Turquia, Tunísia e Sul de Espanha e Ilhas Canárias) e também foram selecionados, aleatoriamente e proporcionalmente ao número de campos por destino, e em igual numero aos dos textos selecionados para a categoria Algarve (40). Um terceiro grupo de textos foi retirado dos sítios dos 40 melhores campos de golfe em 2009 de acordo com o ranking da revista Golf Magazine (2010). Foram analisados um total de 144 textos. Outra fonte para gerar itens a incluir na escala de avaliação da personalidade da marca de um destino de golfe foi um conjunto de entrevistas individuais a especialistas em turismo e em golfe realizadas no Algarve entre junho de 2010 e abril de 2011. Realizaram-se um total de 46 entrevistas, todas orientadas pelo mesmo guião de perguntas embora com técnicas de resposta diferentes. Foram conduzidas 31 entrevistas de resposta livre e 15 entrevistas cujas respostas eram dadas através da seleção de itens de listas fornecidas pelo investigador. As primeiras tiveram como objetivo gerar itens novos/específicos para os destinos de golfe e as segundas testar e validar os itens existentes em modelos retirados da literatura, como seja o modelo de personalidade ‘Big-Five’ (Goldberg, 1992; Saucier, 1984) e o modelo de personalidade da marca (Aaker, 1997). Foram ainda testados alguns descritores da imagem da marca de destinos turísticos igualmente retirados da literatura. Os itens apurados e selecionados nas três fontes foram depois sujeitos a validação de conteúdo por um painel de especialistas internacionais na área do turismo e do golfe (académicos e profissionais). Os itens foram também distribuídos pelas categorias de atributos (funcionais, simbólicos ou experienciais) pelo mesmo painel. Estes últimos indicaram também quais os itens mais adequados para avaliar um destino de golfe numa perspectiva holística. A fase seguinte da investigação foi a aplicação de um questionário a uma amostra de conveniência de 600 jogadores de golfe no Algarve para validar a escala. Foram analisados 545 questionários válidos. Os jogadores de golfe no Algarve avaliaram as componentes relacionais da personalidade da marca (funcional, simbólica e experimental), bem como o Algarve, no seu todo, como um destino de golfe durante o mês de abril de 2012 - época alta do golfe no Algarve. A taxonomia de personalidade da marca foi desenvolvida e testada no Algarve, pois esta região é um destino de golfe internacionalmente reconhecido como sendo um dos melhores do mundo. Dois modelos multidimensionais de personalidade de marca foram estimados recorrendo à análise de equações estruturais. O modelo I reflete a avaliação da personalidade da marca baseada na perceção que os golfistas têm do Algarve como um destino de golfe. O Modelo II resultou da avaliação das componentes da personalidade da marca (funcional, simbólica e experiencial) através dos seus respetivos atributos. Os resultados deste estudo indicam que os jogadores de golfe reconhecem características de personalidade aos destinos de golfe. A personalidade da marca Algarve é traduzida em três dimensões principais enjoyableness, distinctiveness e friendliness quando os turistas/jogadores de golfe revelam a sua perceção global sobre o destino. A personalidade da marca do destino de golfe Algarve reflete-se nas dimensões reliability, hospitality, uniqueness e attractiveness quando os turistas avaliam as componentes relacionais da personalidade da marca. O estudo propõe duas escalas consistindo em 10 e 12 itens as quais respeitam os requisitos de validade e de fiabilidade. Verificamos que neste estudo não são replicadas nem a escala da personalidade da marca nem a escala da personalidade humana e muito pouco paralelismo pode ser encontrado entre as escalas validadas nesta pesquisa e as encontradas na literatura. Da escala da personalidade da marca apenas três itens foram validados nos dois modelos: friendly e cheerful, (dimensão sincerity), reliable (dimensão competence). O mesmo aconteceu com a escala da personalidade humana, ou seja as características humanas que podem ser aplicadas na descrição de um destino de golfe são: helpful, pleasant (dimensão agreeableness), relaxed (dimensão emotional stability), e innovative (dimensão intellect ou openness). Em termos dos descritores da imagem dos destinos, só os itens appealing, relaxed e safe foram validados enquanto na categoria de traços específicos do destino os itens calm, natural, spectacular, unique, welcoming, e (the) best, embora não sendo traços de personalidade humana são os termos que melhor descrevem um destino de golfe. Os resultados sugerem que a personalidade da marca do destino de golfe Algarve, numa perspectiva holística é descrita pelas dimensões enjoyableness, distinctiveness e friendliness enquanto a perspectiva relational aponta para diferentes resultados. Esta abordagem revela que os atributos funcionais são descritos pela dimensão reliability, os atributos simbólicos são descritos pelas dimensões hospitality e uniqueness e finalmente os atributos experieciais são descritos pela dimensão attractiveness. Destes resultados conclui-se que a avaliação da personalidade da marca de um destino de golfe vai muito além das boas condições para a prática do golfe. Implicações teóricas e práticas são discutidas no contexto da personalidade da marca de destinos de golfe e prendem-se como uma nova abordagem do conceito, incluído as várias componentes relacionais da marca, a abordagem metodológica para a geração de itens para a escala e ainda o conceito desenvolvido para destino de golfe. Na prática este estudo valida um conjunto de termos com os quais se pode descrever um destino de golfe, termos esse que poderão vir a ser utilizados numa melhor e mais próxima relação com o turista/golfista que à partida, conforme foi confirmado, já se identifica com as características do destino. São ainda referidas as limitações do estudo e linhas para investigação futura

Customer co-creation in innovations : a protocol for innovating with end users

The transition into the information revolution or age has made it possible for consumers and users to interfere in the conceptualization, design, production and sales processes of firms. Consumers and users can express their needs in more direct way to producing firms, they have access to the way products and services are made, and last but not least, have access to information on competing products and services that even producers don’t know about. Consumers have become more knowledgeable and are therefore capable of designing and producing their own products and services. The success of innovations or new product and service development is highly dependent on whether they take in consideration the needs and demands of potential users and consumers. In other words, a market orientation is essential for the success of an innovation. Firms would therefore welcome the idea of consumers and users expressing their demands and probably appreciate consumers who want to participate in the new product or service development, because they would have immediate feedback on the potential success of the innovation. Question is, however, how to achieve this and how to successfully co-create with customers in the innovation process. This design research addresses customer co-creation in innovations for product and service industries. It addresses how firms should successfully activate customers or users and what process they should follow, i.e. the kind of customers or users to involve, the tools and techniques to apply, and procedures to be followed. It develops the appropriate interventions for this in a Customer Co-Creation in Innovations (3CI) - Protocol. The nature of this research is prescriptive, based on the Design Science principles, aiming to design a solution for firms that are interested in the co-creation role that customers can play in their organizations regarding innovations. The research results in a protocol which organizations that want to co-create with customers in their innovation process, can use or apply, to effectively co-create with these customers. Effectively in this sense means that the customer input will be of added value to the innovation, resulting in the outcome that the organization succeeds in bringing the innovation into the market or in use. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the innovation will be a commercial success, because this success depends on more and other factors than just customer co-creation. But, in this context customer co-creation gives the organization the necessary confirmation that the innovation fits needs and demands in the market, and thus leads to a higher adaptation than one should expect when not co-creating with customers. There is an abundance of literature that argue the benefits of involving customers in the innovation process, while other address the issue of which customers to involve, so, the research focuses itself on best practices, experiments, and such to develop this protocol. This has been accomplished by studying the diverse modes or appearances of customer involvement in product or service development, such as market research, empathic design, user-centered design, co-design, mass customization, user innovation, open source software development, user generated content, crowdsourcing, and customer co-creation. Although there is a lot of overlap and similarities among these modes of involvement, there are also many differences, indicating that customer co-creation in innovations is contingent on many factors and aspects. To reduce the confusion, a construct of customer co-creation in innovations has been developed, which has been defined as the process where product manufacturers and/or service providers actively engage with their end users or customers in (parts or phases of) innovation projects to jointly perform innovation activities and co-create value, with the aim of increasing effectiveness and efficiency of the innovation process. Effectiveness refers to (1) the result of meeting users’ and customers’ needs and demands in a better way; and (2) increasing customer loyalty. Efficiency refers to (1) the reduction of research and development costs; and (2) the reduction of development time. And to analyze differences and similarities so that the appropriate design propositions can stated, a 3CI framework was developed, covering the following topics: (1) how to determine whether a firm can co-create with its customers in innovations, which are the so called context conditions; (2) how to identify, select, and motivate potential customers to participate in customer-open innovations; (3) how to engage and involve these customers in the innovation process in an effective and efficient way, the process, procedures and methods one can follow, the tools one can use to accomplish this. With this framework the practice of customer co-creation was analyzed by means of five case studies, in which two of them, the author was an actor in designing and executing the process of co-creation. The cases, selected for their diversity, reveal the opportunities and challenges of customer-inclusive innovation. Customer involvement was at least a partial success in all cases. At the same time, it was never a ‘silver bullet’ to permanently transform the way the company worked. 3CI seems to be capable to support both incidental and repeating innovation initiatives of a firm. Another observation is that, whether a B2B or B2C type of firm, a manufacturer or service provider, small or large firms, all seem to be capable of and suited for 3CI. Common in all cases, however, is that the organization’s offerings and markets should be heterogeneous, thereby containing opportunities to either develop line extensions or really novel (radical) offerings. The technology base of the organization, however, does not seem to be a prerequisite. Another theme cutting across the cases is the nature of an ‘innovation community’, where users test, experiment with and modify or enhance existing prototypes and products, paving the roadway to innovation. As for the relationship between innovation type and type of customer, the cases undoubtedly demonstrate that ‘ordinary’ users can provide useful input to develop radical or novel innovations. The cases also demonstrate that nearly all innovation activities can be conducted by co-creating with customers, including needs assessment, ideation, the screening of ideas or concepts, concept testing, design and development, the commercialization of the innovation and even the re-innovation or use stage. So, although one could get the idea of 3CI being of particular interest in the front end of an innovation stage, we see that in all later stages 3CI can be beneficial as well. Typical across all cases is also the contingency of the channel of involvement (online versus face-to-face) with the amount of customers involved, which we have typed as the degree of openness. The more people are involved, the more open (no secrecy) the co-creation is and the more the involvement is obtained through the online channel, either with communities or on an open call. Conversely, the less participants, the more secrecy is needed and the sooner the physical presence or offline participation seems to be imminent in participation. Finally, regarding the use of tools it can be concluded that sophisticated methods for customer co-creation are a complement rather than the sole source of user information. More important seems to be the occurrence of a dialogue between firm and participating customers, implying that the quality of the interaction depends on mutual trust, appreciation, commitment and equality. Tools that support this dialogue, such as the ZMET¿, OBR, or similar techniques, seem to be important to assure effective and efficient contribution from customers. Subsequently, the design process was conducted, first by defining 16 design requirements for the protocol – subdivided in functional and use requirements, and design restrictions and boundary conditions – followed by the development of the design propositions. A grand total of 28 design propositions have been identified, regarding the context of 3CI (10 propositions), the customer requirements (10 propositions) and process (8 propositions). The context propositions reflected the context decisions to be made, i.e. the appropriate strategy, the suitability of the firm’s market, the initiator for the co-creation (firm or customer), and the type of innovation (incremental vs. radical, open vs. closed mode). Wherever appropriate we have also reviewed the appropriate methods, tools and techniques for the best implementation of the interventions. These are the first decisions the firm has to make when undertaking the 3CI Journey. Only when these decisions are made a next step, i.e. determining which customer requirements are appropriate, can be made. It has been argued that any organization can co-create with its customers in innovations, provided that they adopt and maintain a market oriented strategy, along with the necessary tools, space, freedom and transparency for customers to participate. Customer co-creation leads to at least effective incremental innovations, but when the organization applies Customer Knowledge Methods it increases the chance for an effective radical innovation. If secrecy is required, a closed mode approach of co-creation can be followed, entailing that a minimum amount and diversity of external participants are involved, provided that there is a clear scope of innovation objectives and the market it is intended for. Finally, organizations can either rely on customer-initiated ideas or initiate an innovation itself. In the first approach the organization is recommended to create and maintain a customer community, which can be observed and interacted with to elicit the customers’ ideas. The 10 customer design propositions deal with the type of customers to co-create with in innovations and the available interventions to engage with and maintain involvement from the selected participants. We have argued that all (potential) customers are eligible to participate, as long as they have a certain use experience with the product, service or category of innovation. Only in the case of a radical innovation, the company can choose to add some lead users in order to increase the chance of generating really novel ideas or concepts. To find these lead users, the company can make an appeal on the customer community, since lead users are usually known in communities. In order to benefit in the best way from the participating ordinary and lead users, the company should select them on the basis of their willingness to participate. On top of that, participants should be trained or educated in the tools, techniques and methods that are applied during their involvement. To prevent a decrease of intrinsic motivation with participants, companies have to be very prudent with the promise and administering of financial rewards. Rewards can be given, but preferably unexpected and contingent on task complexity and performance demonstrated by the participant. Depending on the channel of involvement, a minimum of 15 to an undetermined maximum of participants is possible, provided that the company reserves sufficient resources to handle the amount of participants. To our initial 20 design propositions we have added an additional 8 design propositions regarding the process of co-creation. We have seen that all innovation stages are suited to co-create with customers. For the appropriate activities in which these customers can contribute we have developed a table depicting activities and contributions per innovation stage. Co-creation can take place in one, more or all stages; to receive the most benefit, customers should be involved as early as possible in the innovation process. To prevent loss of attention, de-motivation and premature abandonment, we have proposed to change participants with ongoing activities; relying on the same customers in all stages can result in ‘myopic’ results. Both online and offline co-creation are possible, depending on openness, amount of participants and available resources. If participation is online, we recommend applying crowdsourcing methods and techniques, preferably within the customer community. To support an effective communication, we finally proposed to use metaphor or analogy based ‘language’ and to treat the participants as if they were team members. Through scrutinizing and analyzing the 28 design propositions in relation to one another and some pre-defined design requirements, we have identified four main routes – metaphorically named the dreamcatcher, contest, touchstone and employment route – that a company can follow when aiming to co-create with customers in the innovation process. The dreamcatcher route appeals on a user community – existing or yet to be created, preferably online, but with a physical possibility – where existing products, services or platforms are used, reviewed and discussed by customers. The company observes and participates in this discussion through a dialogue, possibly also moderating the community. Opportunities are identified by the company and translated into innovation projects by the company, in which customers again can participate. In the contest route the company can pose users with a specific question or request, a challenge, for which they are expected to think of a solution, of which typically one, or a limited amount of solutions are eligible. The intention is to specifically involve the customer in the front end of the innovation, because the company does not know or is not aware yet of customer needs and wants, or the intended product or service requirements. Customer input is then required in the first stage (Conception), but is not necessary excluded in later stages, where customers can test prototypes, assist in the commercialization and the re-innovation. In the touchstone route the company can decide to co-create with customers in any, arbitrary stage or activity of the innovation process, a sort of a one off. In such a case, the company usually has already identified the opportunities, the innovation project and its goals. Customer co-creation is opportune to verify assumptions, fill in details, and provide additional, not thought of product or service requirements. Of course it is possible to co-create with the customer in more than one activity, but this approach is seen as discrete co-creation activities to support just that particular and specific stage, in which the co-creation is required, usually in the implementation stage and thereafter. Finally, in the employment route the company can integrate one or more (limited amount of) customers in the innovation project, e.g. by temporarily employing them. This approach is of particular interest in idea generation, design and development activities, i.e. the Conception and Implementation stage, but later stages aren’t excluded. We can see this approach applied in customized projects, where it is the intention to create something for a specific set of customers or segment. This can be on request by the customer or because the company has discovered an unfulfilled or unattended set of needs with these customers, e.g. through dreamcatching. To decide which route(s) is or are appropriate we have discussed some premises and considerations – objectives for co-creation, stages and contributions for co-creation, type and openness of innovation – that a company has to assess systematically. Each route was elaborated on, providing preparation steps and do’s and don’ts for an effective and efficient contribution from customers. The four routes are also interrelated and do not exclude one another, but nevertheless provide a company with the optimal approach for 3CI. The 3CI-protocol is therefore a robust, handy guideline for companies to co-create with their customers in innovations. Because of the systematic and rigorous analysis and synthesis of theory and practice, the protocol can be applied in most situations. To test and prove the correctness of this last assertion we validated the design by having it reviewed by some potential users, some experts and some scholars, and to base the conclusion of its validity on the opinions of these reviewers. A total of 25 potential reviewers, both national and international, consisting of product/service developers, co-creation intermediaries, consultants and scholars were approached independently from and ‘blind’ to each other to conduct this review. Ten of them consented in participation; three abandoned the review process prematurely for personal reasons, leaving a total of 7 reviewers that have submitted comments. It was agreed on to enhance the review with a Delphi if responses were very divergent. All reviewers found the protocol useful and helpful for guiding the process of customer co-creation. Comments or critique referred mainly to the readability of the protocol, with the remark that users might lose attention because of the academic reasoning. Some of them provided useful additions to the protocol in order to enhance the readability. Also, suggestions were made to promote the protocol to practice, for instance by publishing it via a community and a management book. The comments did not contain divergent viewpoints on the subject, the design and its content, so the Delphi was left out. Based on these comments and suggestions by the reviewers, we have redesigned the protocol into the 3CI Protocol version 1.0, which can be published as a separate document, detached from this thesis, which all potential users can get hold of and apply without having to acquire a copy of the thesis. We propose to use this protocol to further validate it in practice and giving us feedback on its effectiveness. Our main contribution to research in management and organization has been to develop a comprehensive how-to guideline for practitioners, based on and grounded in a diversity of theory. Therefore, we believe that we have contributed with a design that is applicable in all kind of business and organizational contexts where the interaction with end users is aimed at developing new offerings. However, modesty is also in place, when we observe that this has to be proven, yet. Further research can be aimed at obtaining this proof, while other research could focus on the underlying assumptions, which we named generative mechanisms, of the design

Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2022

This open access book presents the proceedings of the International Federation for IT and Travel & Tourism (IFITT)’s 29th Annual International eTourism Conference, which assembles the latest research presented at the ENTER2022 conference, which will be held on January 11–14, 2022. The book provides an extensive overview of how information and communication technologies can be used to develop tourism and hospitality. It covers the latest research on various topics within the field, including augmented and virtual reality, website development, social media use, e-learning, big data, analytics, and recommendation systems. The readers will gain insights and ideas on how information and communication technologies can be used in tourism and hospitality. Academics working in the eTourism field, as well as students and practitioners, will find up-to-date information on the status of research

Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2022

This open access book presents the proceedings of the International Federation for IT and Travel & Tourism (IFITT)’s 29th Annual International eTourism Conference, which assembles the latest research presented at the ENTER2022 conference, which will be held on January 11–14, 2022. The book provides an extensive overview of how information and communication technologies can be used to develop tourism and hospitality. It covers the latest research on various topics within the field, including augmented and virtual reality, website development, social media use, e-learning, big data, analytics, and recommendation systems. The readers will gain insights and ideas on how information and communication technologies can be used in tourism and hospitality. Academics working in the eTourism field, as well as students and practitioners, will find up-to-date information on the status of research