USER – GENERATED REVIEWS AND OFFICIAL STAR RATINGS: CAN THE TWO WORK TOGETHER IN HOTEL EVALUATION SYSTEMS?

The purpose of this study is to understand the emerging influence of e-WOM (electronic word-of-mouth) as a contemporary feedback system, its role for hotels, and importance for guests. Furthermore, the study identifies the nature of user-generated feedback in terms of determining hotel ratings, and establishing whether similarities between official hotel ratings and guests’ feedback evaluations exist. The qualitative study is based on the analysis of 240 feedbacks, taken from the TripAdvisor.com, for 20 hotels of 3 and 4 star ratings in Klaipeda (Lithuania) and Kaliningrad (Russia), and interviews of eight hoteliers. The most important review categories for guests were found to be that of amenities, service, and location. The findings reveal that the online review system is still not structured enough to become the main evaluation system of a hotel

Short digital-competence test based on DigComp2.1: Does digital competence support research competence in undergraduate students?

This article presents a ten-item short scale for measuring digital competence. The scale is based on the Digital Competence Framework for Citizens, DigComp2.1 (Carretero et al., 2017). For our surveys, we used five items from the DigCompSat study (Clifford et al., 2020) and created five new ones to address the competence areas defined by DigCom2.1. We tested the scale on a sample of 1416 students from four countries (Germany, Lithuania, Austria, UK), using the questionnaire in two languages (English, German). The scale proved to be reliable (Cronbach’s α of 0.87 and McDonald’s ωt of 0.88) and valid (construct and content validity). Using the scale, we replicated findings from previous studies on differences in digital literacy by gender, study subject, and level of study. Despite the inhomogeneous structure of items from five different competence areas (according to DigComp2.1) and of two different types (specific, general), the scale does not seem to be multifactorial. A detailed analysis of digital competence and undergraduate research in the context of the pandemic shows: digital competence seems to support research competence and may even support inclusion.Peer Reviewe

Men's Role in Emergency Obstetric Care in Osun State of Nigeria

This study was conducted among the Yoruba of South-West Nigeria to examine the role of men in emergency obstetric care, as men determine whether and when their spouses visit health clinics in most cultures. Simple random sampling was used to select 900 households from three communities in Osun State, south-west Nigeria. Separate interviewers interviewed the man and his wife in each of the households. In polygamous families, two wives of reproductive age were also interviewed. The quantitative survey was complemented with a number of focus group discussions, in-depth interviews and key informant interviews. There was high level of awareness of emergency obstetric conditions by men, particularly in relation to pregnancy signs and labour pains (53.2%). Respondents reported that men play useful roles during their partner?s obstetric conditions (89.2%). Women take decisions on health-seeking behaviour during emergency obstetric conditions in the absence of the male partner. Education is found to be the major determinant of this change in male knowledge and behaviour. There is a need to further promote universal basic education in the country especially in areas where the observable change in this study has not been noted. There is also a need to extend the study to other zones in Nigeria in order to have a national picture. (Afr J Reprod Health 2005 2005; 9[3]:59-71