Themes and trends in Australian and New Zealand tourism research: A social network analysis of citations in two leading journals (1994-2007)

Assessments and rankings of the contribution and influence of scholars, institutions and journals in tourism are becoming increasingly common. This article extends the existing literature by providing a finer grained understanding of key influences in tourism research. This study presents a bibliometric analysis of the tourism literature by examining papers authored by Australian and New Zealand researchers in Annals of Tourism Research and Tourism Management between 1994 and 2007. A general picture of the field is drawn by examining keywords, the most-cited authors and works, as well as co-citation patterns. The analysis is extended by the use of social network analysis to explore the links between keywords and influential works in the field. The article also addresses the conference theme by identifying emerging themes and influences. Results indicate that tourism research in Australia and New Zealand has been strongly influenced by sociology and anthropology, geography and behavioural psychology. Emerging themes have focused on the health and safety of tourists, risk, wine tourism and segmentation

Linking operations, marketing and environmental capabilities and diversification to hotel performance: a data envelopment analysis approach

This study examines the impacts of marketing capability, operations capability, environmental capability and diversification strategy on performance of hotel industry in the UK. We conceptualize these impacts by drawing on the resource-based-view of a firm as the theoretical underpinning. We use the financial archival data and information obtained from websites. We use content analysis, regression analysis and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Our results show that operations capability and environmental capability have significant positive effects on performance, marketing capability has a significant negative impact but diversification strategy does not impact on performance. Additionally, there is no evidence of the moderating effects of efficiency on these impacts. Our study suggests that hotel industry in the UK ought to focus on developing operations and environmental capabilities especially by exploiting the synergies between them but reduce excessive reliance on marketing. This paper makes two important contributions to the literature. First, it applies a framework linking the three capabilities (operations, marketing and environment) and diversification to the specific case of the hotel industry. Second, unlike similar previous studies, ours is the first to incorporate environmental capabilities in the analysis

Human capital, organizational orientations and performance: Evidence from the restaurant industry

The study examines how human capital combines with and influences organizational orientations to determine performance. Specifically, this study investigates small restaurant businesses’ ability to effectively exploit intangible resources and capabilities, rather than tangible resources, in order to produce sustainable competitive advantage. A structured questionnaire was used to survey owners/managers of small independent restaurants in the United States. The results demonstrate that human capital, market orientation and entrepreneurial orientation serve as intangible resources and capabilities that can augment the competitive position of independent restaurants, and thereby improve performance. Human capital also combines with and influences the adoption of market orientation and subsequent performance

The Role the Economists in Agricultural Research

The question of a research agenda in Agricultural Economics can be approached in different ways. One is to develop a framework board enough to encompass the goals and ethical and value premises within which the valuation criteria and priorities can be developed. Another is just to follow Jacob Viner’s dictum that “Economics is what economists do”. In this paper some of the perceived problems and area of work involved are set out. Given the changing perspective, the emerging issues, the changing directions of research, and the multi-faceted problems that developing countries and the Economists working in such environment are grappling with, the challenge facing Economists is not be bound by rigid rules and archaic procedures, but be alive to the problems that, in the final analysis, impinge on the quality of life of the millions living these countries. One must also be alive to the criticism levelled at Social Scientists of the third world, namely that they work with in a frame work of reference imposed by developed country concepts and models, leading to agendas imposed by outside agencies and thus very often irrelevant to the needs and requirements of the third world

How organizational culture influences market orientation and business performance in the restaurant industry

This study contributes to the hospitality literature by examining the direct and indirect effects of organizational culture types on market orientation (MO) and performance in the context of the restaurant industry. A structured questionnaire was used to survey owners/managers of independent restaurants in the U.S. The direct influence of supportive and innovative cultural types on firm performance was confirmed. In addition, MO partially mediated the direct positive effect of innovative organizational culture on firm performance. Our results also confirm that innovative and supportive organizational culture types are important predictors of MO and that they are better predictors of performance than MO. The findings should enhance organizational design and marketing options available to restaurant businesses and offer guidance to managers attempting to shape and mold organizational culture and the behaviors associated with the implementation of MO in order to improve performance

Analysis of the nascar hall of fame exhibition event: A generation-based market segmentation approach

Research findings on generations have been becoming useful for event organizers and destination developers over the past decades. The current study investigated generational differences in exhibition dimensions, satisfaction, and future intentions along with trip characteristics of visitors to the NASCAR Hall of Fame Exhibition event held in a medium-sized city in the southeastern region of the US. Analysis confirmed the existence of six exhibition dimensions labeled as exhibits, staff, facility, concessions, audio tours, and hard cards on the event. As part of the most substantial results, there were both dissimilarities and similarities in the exhibition dimensions across four generations including Matures, Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y. Analysis also suggested significant differences in exhibition visitors\u27 overall satisfaction, future intentions, and trip characteristics across the generations. Some useful implications are discussed for exhibition event managers and organizers