Exploring the antecedents of retail banks’ reputation in low-bankarization markets: Brand equity, value co-creation, and brand experience

Purpose: The present study aims to propose and validate a model to measure certain variables that may contribute to increasing the bankarization rate (uptake of retail banking services) among developing-economy populations characterized by poor financial literacy and low income levels. Design/methodology/approach: A quantitative empirical study is carried out in the retail banking sector of a country with low bankarization rates. Using a self-administered questionnaire distributed online, structural equation modeling is applied to analyze the relationships between value co-creation, brand experience, brand equity, and reputation. Findings: The results show that brand equity is an antecedent of reputation, that value co-creation and brand experience positively influence brand equity, and that value co-creation positively influences brand experience. Originality: The findings of this study provide an original perspective that offers a deeper understanding of the mechanisms that enable banks operating in low-bankarization markets to enhance their reputation through strategies based on customer–company interaction and branding (with the variables of brand equity, brand experience, and value co-creation). Social implications: The bankarization rate of a developing country is generally taken as an indicator of the socioeconomic wellbeing of its population. Where there is a low bankarization rate, this renders it more difficult for financial institutions to build their reputation to attract new customers and retain existing ones. Strategies are therefore proposed to improve the reputation of financial institutions in such settings and, thus, contribute to increasing the bankarization rate

Can Online Travel Agencies contribute to the recovery of the tourism activity after a health crisis?

Purpose - Online travel agencies (OTAs) have an important role to play in reactivating tourism activity following a health crisis by providing information about the health conditions of tourist destinations. Once developed it is necessary to analyse the effectiveness of the information provided and ascertain whether the provision of such information effects the understanding of the value of using OTAs and, in turn, the intention to do so. Design/methodology/approach - This paper, based on an empirical case study conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, examines whether following a health crisis, the quality of information provided by OTAs on the health conditions of tourist destinations and the perceived value of their offer generate a greater OTA services reuse intention, and signals, therefore, a return to travel. Findings - The results show the quality of the information positively influences the perceived value of, but not the OTA services reuse intention. Rather, the perceived value positively influences the OTA services reuse intention. Originality – This research offers a novel perspective about the OTAs’ contribution to the recovery of the activity of the tourism industry after a health crisis. This contributes to achieving a more resilient sector in the face of future health crises. Practical implications - Overall, it can be suggested that providing quality health information for a destination is a necessary strategy because it contributes to increasing the perceived value of OTAs. To incentivize the intention for repeated use of OTA services, it is necessary to consider the perceived value that influences the intention to make repeat OTA reservations.Consejería de Universidad, Investigación e Innovación de la Junta de Andalucía y FEDER, Una manera de Hacer Europa (Research Project A-SEJ-462-UGR20

The role of health and safety protocols and brand awareness for the recovery of hotel activity following a health crisis

Purpose – This paper examines whether following a health crisis the use of health and safety protocols and hotel brand awareness influences hotel perceived value and intention to visit. Design/methodology/approach – Using anexperimentaldesign, the study evaluates the effectiveness of the use of health and safety protocols and the moderating effect of brand awareness on perceived value and intention to visit. Findings – The results show that the hotels using health and safety protocols (compared to those that do not use them) will achieve a higher perceived value and intention to visit. In addition, the awareness of brand does not moderate the effect of the health and safety protocols on perceived value and intention to visit. Practical implications – This research identifies mechanisms for future consideration by hotel companies to promote the recovery of their activity after a health crisis. Specifically, using health and safety protocols will result in the market evaluating the brand more highly and produce a greater intention to visit. At the same time, the research indicates that regardless of whether the brand is well-known or not, the use of a health and safety protocol is advantageous. Originality/value – This study offers new insights that can be useful for developing a resilient hotel sector in the face of future health crises. Specifically, the results show progress in understanding the effects that the use of health and safety protocols and brand awareness have on key consumer variables for the recovery of the sector in a post-pandemic context.Conocimiento y Universidades de la Junta de Andalucia (Spain) A-SEJ-462-UGR20Consejeria de Economia, Innovacion y Ciencia de la Junta de Andalucia (Spain) CV20-0935

Brand personality in cultural tourism through social media

Purpose: This study aims to analyze the effect of the use of social media on the perception of brand personality and to identify its effect on customer brand engagement. Design/methodology/approach: The study adopted an exploratory approach, adapting Aaker's Brand Personality Scale (1997) to the context of cultural tourism before carrying out a quantitative study resorting to a structural equation modeling (SEM) in order to obtain empirical evidence to identify these relationships. Findings: The findings reveal that the use of social media has a positive effect on the perception of brand personality and that brand personality, likewise, has a positive effect on customer brand engagement. Research implications: This study indicates that transmission of an attractive brand personality according to the desires of the public, combined with dissemination through social media, is a valid strategy to improve customer brand engagement. Originality/value: This study represents an advance in the specialized literature on the value that consumers place on information transmitted through social media. Specifically, it sheds light on how the transmission of brand personality through social media affects customer brand engagement.Spanish Ministry of Education and Vocational Training under Grant FPU 15/0726

Revenue management and CRM via online media: The effect of their simultaneous implementation on hospitality firm performance

The study seeks to identify the effects of the simultaneous implementation of Revenue Management and CRM on business performance among hospitality firms and to determine whether Market Orientation constitutes a suitable business culture for fostering this joint approach in the online environment. A quantitative empirical study among chain hotels, based on structural equation modeling, is conducted. The results indicate that the simultaneous implementation of Revenue Management and CRM in the online environment positively influences business performance, and that the adoption of online Market Orientation is an antecedent of the implementation of both of these marketing processes.Ministerio de Educación y Formación Profesional from Spain under Grant FPU 15/07264Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad from Spain under Grant Research Projects ECO 2015-65306-RResearch support program of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Granada (Spain

Mentoring para un desarrollo profesional personalizado

-Este PID coordinado ha contribuido a potenciar el desarrollo académico, profesional y personal del alumnado con la aplicación de la mentorización (en adelante como mentorización o mentoring) como metodología docente que permite adaptarse a las características individuales de los estudiantes y ambientales/contextuales de cada titulación. El objetivo fundamental ha sido el de implementar de forma gradual y coordinada las técnicas de mentoring para mejorar la calidad de la docencia de diferentes asignaturas del módulo generalista, específico y practicum del Máster en Profesorado de Enseñanza Secundaria Obligatoria y Bachillerato, Formación Profesional y Enseñanzas de Idiomas, y en asignaturas obligatorias y optativas del Grado en Turismo y Doble Grado en Traducción e Interpretación y Turismo. Para conseguirlo, se desarrolló un programa un programa a través del que los estudiantes han conocido la potencialidad del mentoring para su futuro laboral como docentes o profesionales del sector turístico. A nivel docente, la implementación de este PID ha sido de utilidad para considerar la heterogeneidad del estudiantado en el aula, que resulta sustancial tener en cuenta para adecuar el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje, para formar personas competentes de forma acorde a su realidad, dotarlos de estrategias y ofrecerles oportunidades para el desarrollo de competencias profesionales. De ahí que se considerase emplear el mentoring como estrategia educativa que favorece la consecución de estos objetivos. Además, la mentorización entre el alumnado ha contribuido a desarrollar un aprendizaje colaborativo, en el que los estudiantes han podido identificar aquellas competencias que necesitan y planificar y abordar actividades para lograrlas. Para desarrollar este PID se adoptaron metodologías propias del mentoring de forma coordinada en las asignaturas participantes, de forma que los estudiantes pasaron a familiarizarse con el desarrollo de una comunicación asertiva, técnicas de comunicación interpersonal, competencias profesionales y personales, liderazgo e inclusión. La aplicación de estas técnicas y conocimientos se trabajó en cada una de las asignaturas de forma conectada a las competencias y conocimientos de cada una de las asignaturas. Además, se desarrollaron una serie de sesiones con expertos en las metodologías y técnicas indicadas

Can online travel agencies contribute to the recovery of the tourism activity after a health crisis?

Purpose – Online travel agencies (OTAs) have an important role to play in reactivating tourism activity following a health crisis by providing information about the health conditions of tourist destinations. Once developed, it is necessary to analyze the effectiveness of the information provided and ascertain whether the provision of such information effects the understanding of the value of using OTAs and, in turn, the intention to do so. Design/methodology/approach – This paper, based on an empirical case study conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, examines whether following a health crisis, the quality of information provided by OTAs on the health conditions of tourist destinations and the perceived value of their offer generate a greater OTA services reuse intention, and signals, therefore, a return to travel. Findings – The results show the quality of the information positively influences the perceived value, but not the OTA services reuse intention. Rather, the perceived value positively influences the OTA services reuse intention. Practical implications – Overall, it can be suggested that providing quality health information for a destination is a necessary strategy because it contributes to increasing the perceived value of OTAs. To incentivize the intention for repeated use of OTA services, it is necessary to consider the perceived value that influences the intention to make repeat OTA reservations. Originality/value – This research offers a novel perspective about the OTAs’ contribution to the recovery of the activity of the tourism industry after a health crisis. This contributes to achieving a more resilient sector in the face of future health crises

The use of gamification in environmental interpretation and its effect on customer-based destination brand equity: The moderating role of psychological distance

This work was supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion from Spain (Research Projects PID2019-110941RB-I00) . Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Granada/CBUAThis study seeks to contribute to the literature dealing with the formation of customer-based destination brand equity (CBDBE) using an environmental interpretation strategy. It aims to establish whether (i) participation in an environmental interpretation experience with a gamified design may exert a greater effect on CBDBE than participation in a non-gamified version; (ii) CBDBE is influenced by the tourist’s psychological distance relative to the destination in question; and (iii) psychological distance moderates the effect of environmental interpretation (gamified vs. non-gamified) on CBDBE. A quasi-experiment is designed in which the environmental interpretation is manipulated (gamified vs. non-gamified). The results show that the effect of a gamified environmental interpretation experience on CBDBE is greater than that of a non-gamified version; and that it is greater among participants who perceive the destination to be psychologically near. The study also finds that there is a regulatory construal fit between the use of a gamified design and psychological distance, such that perceived psychological distance exerts a moderating effect on the relationship between interpretation type (gamified vs. non-gamified) and CBDBE. It is identified that, when the destination is perceived to be psychologically distant, the gamified environmental interpretation generates significantly greater CBDBE than the non-gamified version. By contrast, when it is psychologically near, there are no significant differences in CBDBE between a gamified and a non-gamified environmental interpretation experience. These results are relevant both for the literature and for the professional tourism sector, which, by its very nature, operates in an international context.Spanish Government PID2019-110941RB-I0

The formation of the brand capital of a tourist destination based on the tourist experience generated in social media

Las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TICs) como los medios sociales (MS), se posicionan como nuevas vías para la mejora del capital de marca de los destinos. Siguiendo los fundamentos del post-turismo, las TICs constituyen un medio en el que el turista puede acceder a experiencias turísticas previas a la visita del destino. Con este trabajo se pretende conocer si las experiencias turísticas generadas a través de MS son un medio válido para incrementar el capital de marca. Por ello, (a) se propone y se valida un modelo de capital de marca de un destino turístico a partir de experiencias turísticas generadas en MS; y (b) se analizan las relaciones entre las distintas dimensiones del capital de marca del destino turístico. Los resultados ponen de manifiesto que las experiencias turísticas generadas mediante MS son capaces de incrementar el capital de marca de un destino turístico.Information and communication technologies (ICTs), including social media (SM), have become new ways to improve the brand equity of destinations. Considering the foundations of post-tourism theory, ICTs constitute a means through which the tourist can access tourism experiences prior to visiting the destination. The objective of this study is to determine whether tourism experiences through SM are a valid mechanism to increase brand equity. For this reason: (a) a brand equity model of a tourist destination generated from tourist experiences through SM is proposed and validated, and (b) the relationships existing between the different dimensions of brand equity are analysed. The results show that tourism experiences through SM are capable of increasing the brand equity of tourist destinations

Influencia del contexto del turista en el CBDBE. Una aplicación empírica del efecto que otros turistas de su entorno geográfico ejercen en la valoración del CBDBE

En el presente trabajo se examina la influencia que el valor contextual de un turista alcanza en el capital de marca de un destino turístico (medido a través del modelo de Customer Based Destination Brand Equity, CBDBE). El objetivo de este trabajo es identificar un modelo explicativo del CBDBE de un turista considerando el efecto indirecto de otros turistas pertenecientes a su mismo entorno geográfico, en base a las variables antecedentes de auto-congruencia, motivación y creación de valor. Se ha encontrado que junto al efecto directo de las variables antecedentes en el CBDBE de un turista, existe un efecto indirecto de estas mismas variables antecedentes ejercido por otros turistas del mismo entorno geográfico. Se utilizó un modelo econométrico espacial que incluye el efecto indirecto que otros turistas del mismo entorno geográfico ejercen en la valoración del CBDBE alcanzada por un turista determinado. Los resultados alcanzados representan una aportacion a la literatura y para el sector profesional.The present work examines the contextual value of a tourist in the brand equity of a tourist destination, measured by means of the Customer-Based Destination Brand Equity (CBDBE) Model. The aim of the study is to identify an explanatory model of CBDBE for a tourist, considering the indirect effect of other tourists from the same geographical area, based on the antecedent variables of self-congruity, motivation and value-creation. The investigation finds that, together with the direct effect of the antecedent variables on tourist CBDBE, these variables also exert an indirect effect, via other tourists from the same geographical area. A spatial econometric model is used, which includes the indirect effect that tourists from the same geographical area exert on the evaluation of CBDBE made by a given tourist. The results of the present study make a contribution to both the literature and to the professional sector.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad ECO-2012-39217Junta de Andalucía P11 SEJ-810