Are Travel Purchases More Satisfactory Than Nontravel Experiential Purchases and Material Purchases? An Exploratory Study

Satisfaction derived from purchases can affect one\u27s happiness and quality of life. Previous studies illustrated that this effect is not equal across purchase categories. Specifically, experiential purchases were found to bring more satisfaction and happiness to consumers than material purchases. However, these comparison studies treated a variety of experiential purchases as one homogeneous category regardless of their nature of consumption. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to bridge this gap and to assess the difference in the level of satisfaction among the three purchase categories: material, travel (composite event experiential purchases), and nontravel experiential purchases (single event experiential purchases). Moreover, this study attempted to ascertain the consistency of these differences across several purchases of each category. By analyzing the satisfaction derived from past actual purchases of 282 participants it was found that respondents were more satisfied with past travel purchases than both past nontravel experiential purchases, and past material purchases. In addition, this study found differences between US and Israeli samples regarding purchase satisfaction derived from the three categories. Lastly, this study also discovered that the price paid for purchases in each of the three categories did not have an effect on the derived satisfaction

Occupational Self-Perceptions of Hotel Employees: An Exploratory Study

This study aimed to reveal the occupational self-perceptions of rank-and-file employees in the Israeli hotel industry. Due to the exploratory nature of the study a qualitative research approach was adopted. The findings are based on 40 semistructured interviews with current and former Israeli hotel employees. The results revealed that almost all participants had disconcerting negative perceptions of rank-and-file occupations in the Israeli hotel industry. The themes emerged as relevant to the understanding of employees\u27 occupational self-perception were classified into four groups: working conditions, occupational profile, job characteristics and requirements, and moderating factors linked with the reputation of the hotel and hospitality industry as a work environment

Induction of cell-cell fusion by ectromelia virus is not inhibited by its fusion inhibitory complex

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Ectromelia virus, a member of the Orthopox genus, is the causative agent of the highly infectious mousepox disease. Previous studies have shown that different poxviruses induce cell-cell fusion which is manifested by the formation of multinucleated-giant cells (polykaryocytes). This phenomenon has been widely studied with vaccinia virus in conditions which require artificial acidification of the medium.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We show that Ectromelia virus induces cell-cell fusion under neutral pH conditions and requires the presence of a sufficient amount of viral particles on the plasma membrane of infected cells. This could be achieved by infection with a replicating virus and its propagation in infected cells (fusion "from within") or by infection with a high amount of virus particles per cell (fusion "from without"). Inhibition of virus maturation or inhibition of virus transport on microtubules towards the plasma membrane resulted in a complete inhibition of syncytia formation. We show that in contrast to vaccinia virus, Ectromelia virus induces cell-cell fusion irrespectively of its hemagglutination properties and cell-surface expression of the orthologs of the fusion inhibitory complex, A56 and K2. Additionally, cell-cell fusion was also detected in mice lungs following lethal respiratory infection.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Ectromelia virus induces spontaneous cell-cell fusion in-vitro and in-vivo although expressing an A56/K2 fusion inhibitory complex. This syncytia formation property cannot be attributed to the 37 amino acid deletion in ECTV A56.</p

Hotel customers’ behavioral intentions toward service robots: the role of utilitarian and hedonic values

This study aims to investigate the effects of hotel customers’ perceived utilitarian and hedonic values on their intention to use service robots. In addition, the influences of innovativeness, ease of use and compatibility on hotel customers’ perceived utilitarian and hedonic values were examined. Design/methodology/approach – The data of the current study was collected from 11 countries including the USA, UK, Turkey, Spain, Romania, Japan, Israel, India, Greece, Canada and Brazil. A structural equation modeling was used to test the study hypotheses. Findings – The results indicated that hotel customers’ intention to use service robots was positively influenced by their utilitarian and hedonic value perceptions. In addition, customers’ perceptions of robots’ ease of use and compatibility had a positive impact on their perceived utilitarian and hedonic values. Originality/value – The findings of the current study provide unique contributions in the context of hospitality robotics technology adoption literature. In addition, this study provides valuable insights and novel opportunities for hospitality decision-makers to capitalize on, as they strive to strategize the integration of robot-based services into their operations.2022-2

Assessment of age-related changes in pediatric gastrointestinal solubility

PurposeCompound solubility serves as a surrogate indicator of oral biopharmaceutical performance. Between infancy and adulthood, marked compositional changes in gastrointestinal (GI) fluids occur. This study serves to assess how developmental changes in GI fluid composition affects compound solubility.MethodsSolubility assessments were conducted in vitro using biorelevant media reflective of age-specific pediatric cohorts (i.e., neonates and infants). Previously published adult media (i.e., FaSSGF, FeSSGF, FaSSIF.v2, and FeSSIF.v2) were employed as references for pediatric media development. Investigations assessing age-specific changes in GI fluid parameters (i.e., pepsin, bile acids, pH, osmolality, etc.) were collected from the literature and served to define the composition of neonatal and infant media. Solubility assessments at 37°C were conducted for seven BCS Class II compounds within the developed pediatric and reference adult media.ResultsFor six of the seven compounds investigated, solubility fell outside an 80–125% range from adult values in at least one of the developed pediatric media. This result indicates a potential for age-related alterations in oral drug performance, especially for compounds whose absorption is delimited by solubility (i.e., BCS Class II).ConclusionDevelopmental changes in GI fluid composition can result in relevant discrepancies in luminal compound solubility between children and adults.<br/

Risk Perceptions of a Mixed-Image Destination: The Case of Turkey's First-Time Versus Repeat Leisure Visitors

The purpose of this study is twofold: first, to investigate tourists&#39; perception of risk about Turkey as a mix image destination and second, to examine if perceived risk of Turkey as a tourism destination differs between first-time and repeat visitors. The findings of the study indicated six risk dimensions as perceived by tourists visited Turkey: (a) time and social risk, (b) financial risks, (c) physical risks, (d) pressing situation risk, (e) experience-related risk, and (f) weather and hotel risk. Descriptive findings suggest that perceived risk of Turkey as a tourism destination was low in spite of some possible risk patterns due to its mixed image. Significant differences were found between first-time and repeat visitors in terms of destination risk perceptions. The study offers practical and theoretical implications for tourism marketing and managing risk in mixed image tourism destinations.</p

Alcohol Consumption Among Working Students: The Moderating Effects of Workplace Policies and College Major

There is extensive research regarding the alcohol consumption behaviors of employees and of college students, yet little work has considered crossover between these populations. This study examines work-related factors and college major (hospitality vs. non-hospitality) in explaining alcohol use at work among employed college students (N = 788). Results demonstrated formal alcohol policies moderated the effects of access to alcohol and after-work alcohol-use norms (social drinking), but not the effect of at-work norms (coworker behaviors). No effects were found for college major. Hospitality majors reported a slightly higher consumption level; however, less than 6% reported high-risk behaviors. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed

Factors Affecting Hotel Managers\u27 Intentions to Adopt Robotic Technologies: A Global Study

The objective of this study that was conducted with 1077 hotel managers in 11 countries in North and South America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, was to identify the effects of technological, organizational, and environmental (TOE) factors on hotel managers\u27 intentions to adopt robotic technologies in their hotels. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was utilized to test the study hypotheses. The results indicated that hotel managers\u27 intention to adopt robotic technologies were positively influenced by their perceived relative advantage, competitive pressure and top management support and negatively influenced by their perceived complexity of the technology. The study results further demonstrated that the impacts of relative advantage, complexity, top management support, and competitive advantage on intention to adopt were moderated by innovativeness. The current study also addressed the theoretical and practical implications to existing knowledge and practice in the hotel industry. • TOE factors\u27 impact on hotel managers\u27 robotic technology adoption were examined. • Relative advantage, competitive pressure, and top mgmt. support had positive impact. • Complexity had a negative impact on intention to adopt robotic technologies. • The moderating impact of innovativeness was significant