Measuring and Examining the Relevance of Discretionary Corporate Social Responsibility in Tourism: Some Preliminary Evidence From The UK Conference Sector

This article investigates the implementation of environmentally focused discretionary corporate social responsibility (CSR) within the U.K. conference sector. A new framework is proposed that organizes and communicates information detailing business performance regarding 10 environmental policy initiatives (expressed by the acronym GREENER) using a CSR response scale (expressed by the acronym VENUE). This GREENER VENUE framework fills a void in the CSR literature by focusing on discretionary practices, by exhibiting psychometric and conceptual properties enabling its application within a multitude of contexts. Grounded in theory, the framework is simple to implement, practical, easily understandable, and highly relatable. Applying the GREENER VENUE framework to data collected via a self-administered Internet questionnaire of the U.K. conference sector reveals the majority of conference venues are classified as Eager. The study also examines the efficacy of the proposed framework toward influencing U.K. venues’ performance on a range of environmentally friendly best practices relative to environmental accreditation

Susceptibility to interpersonal influence : a social basis for determining the strength of travelers' destination brand equity perceptions

This study examines the effect of different types of social influence on travelers’ perceptions of a destination’s brand equity. The proposed model is tested using data obtained from a survey of 979 travelers in Macao. A brand equity measurement model previously developed for a tangible product brand is applied and validated in the context of a destination brand. The empirical results of the study will serve to strengthen the claim that branding principles can be readily generalized to tourism destinations

Interpersonal influence and destination brand equity perceptions

Purpose - This study seeks to examine the effect of two types of social influence, normative and informational, on travelers' perceptions of a destination's brand equity. Design/methodology/approach - A brand equity measurement model, previously developed for a tangible product brand, is applied and validated in the context of a destination brand. The structural model is then estimated to test the effects of normative and informational influence on brand equity. Findings - Normative but not informational influence has a significant effect on brand equity perceptions. Originality/value - The empirical results help to strengthen the claim that branding principles can be readily generalized to tourism destinations

Examining hotel brand loyalty via a modified brand switching matrix in the context of Macau's rapidly growing industry

This paper examined the use of a modified version of Colombo & Morrison’s (1989) brand switching matrix (BSM) as a framework for analyzing hotel brand loyalty among a random sample of visitors to Macau. The study adopted the modification to the BSM proposed by Obermiller (2002) in which brand loyalty is operationalized as the consistency between respondents' stated preferred (or first choice) hotel and the actual hotel where they stay. Following such an approach, results of the study yielded not only a measure of customer brand loyalty for various hotels but also the dynamics of ‘switching’ of patrons between hotel brands, allowing for a richer understanding of the competitive interplay occurring in the recently liberalized Macau hotel industry. The relative advantage of using the BSM as a[br]framework for assessing brand loyalty is then briefly discussed and weighed against other, more popular though problematic, alternatives of conceptualizing brand loyalty