Assessing the effect of customer perceptions of corporate social responsibility on customer trust within a low cultural trust context

© Emerald Publishing Limited. Purpose – Many research findings depicted corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a strategic tool for influencing customer behavior, especially customer trust. Nevertheless, rare is research that considered a business ecosystem infested by a low level of cultural trust, political and economic problems, perceived corruption and low level of CSR awareness and engagement as obstacles that may prevent companies from influencing their customers’ behavior. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate whether CSR activities positively influence consumer/user trust toward companies operating within a low-cultural-trust context and also the consistency of empirical finds on CSR regardless of the cultural context. Design/methodology/approach – The model of this study consisted of four variables: perceptions of CSR, customer trust, service quality and customer satisfaction. The target sample constituted respondents belonging to six different occupational categories namely health-care services, media services, law and public security, agriculture and earth sciences, training and education services and administrative sciences. This study used a quantitative approach based on a paper–pencil questionnaire to collect the data. Findings – The results of this study indicated that perceptions of CSR correlated positively with service quality, customer satisfaction and customer trust. The results also indicated that perceptions of CSR, service quality and customer satisfaction are good predictors of customer trust. Originality/value – This study is significant because it was conducted in a developing country (Haiti) that has long been struggling with political instability, systemic corruption, serious environmental damages and continuous economic crises and inequality along with a low level of CSR engagement and awareness

Implementing artificial intelligence in forecasting the risk of personal bankruptcies in Poland and Taiwan

Research background: The global financial crisis from 2007 to 2012, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the current war in Ukraine have dramatically increased the risk of consumer bankruptcies worldwide. All three crises negatively impact the financial situation of households due to increased interest rates, inflation rates, volatile exchange rates, and other significant macroeconomic factors. Financial difficulties may arise when the private person is unable to maintain a habitual standard of living. This means that anyone can become financially vulnerable regardless of wealth or education level. Therefore, forecasting consumer bankruptcy risk has received increasing scientific and public attention. Purpose of the article: This study proposes artificial intelligence solutions to address the increased importance of the personal bankruptcy phenomenon and the growing need for reliable forecasting models. The objective of this paper is to develop six models for forecasting personal bankruptcies in Poland and Taiwan with the use of three soft-computing techniques. Methods: Six models were developed to forecast the risk of insolvency: three for Polish households and three for Taiwanese consumers, using fuzzy sets, genetic algorithms, and artificial neural networks. This research relied on four samples. Two were learning samples (one for each country), and two were testing samples, also one for each country separately. Both testing samples contain 500 bankrupt and 500 nonbankrupt households, while each learning sample consists of 100 insolvent and 100 solvent natural persons. Findings & value added: This study presents a solution for effective bankruptcy risk forecasting by implementing both highly effective and usable methods and proposes a new type of ratios that combine the evaluated consumers\u27 financial and demographic characteristics. The usage of such ratios also improves the versatility of the presented models, as they are not denominated in monetary value or strictly in demographic units. This would be limited to use in only one country but can be widely used in other regions of the world

Delivering quality and memorable tourism experience

The role of service quality has become crucial for contemporary tourism destinations due to the rapidly changing business environment. It is therefore important to delineate quality experience drivers, outcomes, and methods to be followed to forecast and evaluate current and future memorable experience. Hence, understanding quality experience, its drivers and outcomes is vital, especially when experiences are at the core of all tourism offerings. The chapter starts with a discussion on the different dimensions of service quality. The second part of the chapter examines how service quality and customer satisfaction are influencing the industry. Finally, a case study is presented highlighting dimensions and outcomes of experiential quality relating to the visitors of Port wineries

Decision-making in a public hospital during economic crisis

Copyright © 2018 by Emerald Publishing Limited. George is the new president of a secondary hospital in Greece. As an intensive economic crisis has been occurring for many years, he has to make difficult decisions regarding how he can effectively reorganize the hospital. George is asked to investigate the current health environment and choose what changes he considers best

Rural tourism support, size, and geographic characteristics impact on tourism development

Main purpose of this investigate what is the impact and the benefits of EU sponsorship to rural tourism Hosts. More of that is examines if the size and geographical characteristics of rural tourism host enterprises affects how positive are hosts on rural tourism development. To answer to the hypotheses a questionnaire was developed then a factor analysis was implemented to discover the most important questions to define “successful rural tourism development”. Then T-Test and ANOVA test was applied to examine if hypothesis one will be accepted or no. Our population was 652 rural tourism hosts and 174 replied giving a response rate of 27%. Findings revealed that subsiding, size and peripheral economic condition are significantly influencing the respondents' views for and against the topic of successful rural enterprises factors. Significant differences based on size do exist in the case of skillful persons who manage well the available resources and they ensure the right management of the financial capitals

The role of human resources practices and branding in the hotel industry in Dubai

Given the need for qualitative research on human resource (HR) practices, this study explores and demonstrates the interrelated HR practices around motivating, engaging, and retaining employees. It employs in-depth interviews to explore such practices adopted by 4- and 5- star hotels in Dubai. The findings reveal that HR practices are classified within employer branding and internal branding and directed toward hotel and destination brand image enhancement. This study offers destination managers with HR practices that contribute to enhancing the hotel and the destination brand

Institutional reforms, control of corruption, and diaspora entrepreneurship: insights and perspectives on America\u27s poorest economy

Purpose: While diaspora entrepreneurs remain important sources of capital and innovation, many developing countries are facing serious challenges to tap into these sources because of their weak institutional settings and the endemic and systemic corruption. To this end, this study explores how institutional reforms and control of corruption can influence diaspora entrepreneurship. This study also seeks to provide perspectives on how diaspora entrepreneurs can influence institutional reforms and market policies. Design/methodology/approach: To meet these objectives, qualitative and interpretive research approaches were employed. Findings: Using responses collected from Haitian diaspora entrepreneurs living in the USA, this paper highlights different attributes of institutional reforms and control of corruption that can influence diaspora entrepreneurship. Practical implications: Based on these insights, this paper argues that Haitian diaspora entrepreneurs need to play a proactive role as policy entrepreneurs by supporting competent and well-intention political leaders to gain office and by joining forces with local actors to advocate for institutional reforms, market reforms and control of corruption in order to be able to exploit market opportunities. In this respect, further perspectives for diaspora entrepreneurship, limitations and consideration for future research are highlighted. Originality/value: By collecting insights on institutional reform and diaspora entrepreneurship from diaspora entrepreneurs, this paper makes important contribution to the entrepreneurship literature

The Impact of Covid-19 on Italian Accommodation: A Supply-Perspective

Purpose: The current COVID-19 pandemic has created an extremely dynamic and uncertain environment in which businesses find it very difficult to operate, particularly those in the hospitality industry. It is therefore very important to understand which actions hospitality businesses think the private and public sectors should adopt in order to cope with the pandemic and its impact. To facilitate this, this research adopted chaos theory to investigate Italian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the hospitality sector. Methods: A mixed method approach, based on a convergent parallel design data validation variant, was adopted. A survey with open and closed questions was developed and sent to a sample of businesses. 1,040 completed questionnaires were collected and analysed through descriptive statistics; in addition to these usable surveys, 361 open-ended answers were analysed thematically. Results: The results showed that Italian entrepreneurs and managers were over-relying on interventions from the public sector and that there was a lack of business actions being made, thus evidencing a deficit in terms of long-term strategic thinking and the innovation required during such turbulent times. Implications: Although these results cannot be generalised to the whole of the hospitality industry, they shed light on important elements that industry associations should take into account