Organizational culture and customer relationship management: a simple linear regression analysis

This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management on 23/11/2017, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/19368623.2017.1254579 The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.Current study tries to investigate the combine effect of organizational culture factors on implementing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in hotels. A questionnaire was administered among managers of a chain hotel in the UK and collected data was subjected to correlation and simple liner regression analysis. The results showed that creating cross functional teams, having culture of teamwork, committed and involved employees, adaptive and responsive attitudes towards change, information sharing, learning orientation and knowledge management, defined set of mission and visions and high degree of innovation are the main predictors for a successful CRM projects

Guest editorial

Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in hospitality and tourism is laden with contradictions. From the simple “carbon offsetting” of budget flights to the warning from the Maldivian Government that their country will disappear due to rising water levels whilst also building, in one year, at least seven additional airports to service their resort islands. The academic literature does not always help; the continually inconclusive or contradictory findings of financial impact studies, often meaningless CSR reporting, and consumer cynicism over perceived “green-washing” activities (Farrington et al., 2017) further contribute to the lack of clarity in this area. There is a need for a substantive move towards sustainable, ethical, responsible, environmentally or socially friendly strategies, but also towards concern for the well-being of future generations in the coming decades (Farrington et al., 2017; Jones et al., 2016; Wells et al., 2016a). Despite continued interest, this is a challenge for many countries, particularly with regards to meeting the ever-shifting opinions and customer expectations surrounding environmental issues pertaining to modern hospitality and tourism. Research should fundamentally debate the relevance and application of sustainability to the sector and its relationship with external stakeholders, and move away from narrow focuses. More specifically, ‘one size does not fit all’ with regards to sustainability and CSR, hence societies and organisations with different cultures and beliefs may be motivated to be involved in sustainability and CSR developments for different reasons, and may also face diverse barriers to implementation (Nyahunzvi, 2013; Thompson et al., 2018; Wells et al., 2015; Wells et al., 2016b; Xu, 2014; Yadav et al., 2016). Hence, the goal of this special issue was to encourage new theoretical and empirical development on sustainability and CSR studies in the hospitality and tourism field

Customer relationship management (people, process and technology) and organisational culture in hotels: which traits matter?

This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Emerald in International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management on 08/05/2017, available online: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-10-2015-0617 The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.Purpose: Current study tries to examine the impact of four organisational cultural traits of adaptability, consistency, involvement and mission on the three components of CRM, namely; people, process and technology in the context of the hotel industry. Methodology: Required data is collected with a quantitative approach and using a questionnaire adapted from the Denison organisational culture survey and the Mendoza CRM model. The questionnaire distributed among 364 managers of a chain hotel in the UK and gathered data examined by the Structural Equation Modelling method. Findings: The results of the research reveal that the four traits of organisational culture (adaptability, consistency, involvement and mission) have positive and significant impacts on three components of CRM (people, process and technology). A set of theoretical contributions and practical implications also discussed. Research limitations: The research is conducted with a case study approach hence the findings cannot be generalized to a larger population and the results might be different for other industries. Due to the limitation of access to all employees, only managers were selected as the sample and future studies with all employees may show different results. Practical implications Current study helps hotel managers to understand the role and importance of organisational cultural traits in successful implementation of the components of their CRM strategy. Originality/value: The position taken in this research recognizes the need to enhance the understanding of organisational culture’s impact on implementing CRM components. Organisational cultural traits have different levels of impact on CRM implementation and this is the first study to investigate the detailed impacts of four traits of adaptability, consistency, involvement and mission on three components of CRM, namely; people, process and technology

The competitiveness of cultural tourism destinations: case of Stara Zagora in Bulgaria

Current study tries to evaluate the competitiveness of Stara Zagora (the sixth largest city in Bulgaria) as a tourist destination generally and from cultural tourism perspective in particular. The study was conducted usingquestionnaires with both closed and open-ended questions. Analyses showed that in addition to reenactment of historic events and Bulgarian traditions and crafts, demand for dining experiences originating from distant parts of the world such as the Far East, India, and Mexico can also be added to the competitive of Stara Zagora. Theoretical and practical implications were also identified and discussed

Gender disparities and positioning in collaborative hospitality and tourism research

Purpose: To explore gender disparities in the production of tourism knowledge with particular reference to academic journals. Design/methodology/approach: Authorship and co-authorship analyses were conducted of data extracted from articles and research notes published between 1965 and 2016 in 25 hospitality and tourism journals. Findings: Gender imbalances are evident in the production of knowledge, though the disparities appear to be decreasing. While heterophilic research collaborations (those between men and women) show some evidence of higher productivity, homophilic collaborations (between males) have greater impact. The findings highlight gender imbalances in international collaborations, in SSCI listed journals, in first authoring, and by country. There is evidence of higher collaborative levels amongst male authors and the differences have increased over time. The positioning of men and women within tourism scholarly networks shows no marked differences. Practical Implications: This data-driven analysis provides decision-makers and policymakers with evidence to support well targeted programs that advance female contributions in hospitality and tourism research collaborations. For example, senior academics and University administrators might offer support for female researchers to become more actively involved in hospitality and tourism research groups and projects. Universities or schools might also seek to encourage collaborations between male and female researchers in their performance indicators. Originality/Value: This study is one of the first to examine gender disparities and positioning in collaborative hospitality and tourism research

Driving force analysis of East European students to study tourism and hospitality in the UK

Using a push-pull model this current study tries to investigate the relative importance of the UK as a location focus for East European students to undertake a Higher National Diploma (HND) in Tourism and Hospitality. The research conducted is based upon a mixed method approach through two sequential phases, a focus group and a questionnaire. The results revealed that the opportunity to improve language skills, financial support from the UK government and job opportunities are the important factors for selecting the UK. The results further showed that the nature of the course, Pre-course expectations and external impacts, such as benefits for EU citizens (student loans) are key factors for choosing to study Tourism and Hospitality

Bibliometric studies in tourism

This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Elsevier in Annals of Tourism Research on 02/11/2016, available online: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2016.10.006 The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.This study evaluates bibliometric studies in tourism, depicts emerging themes, and offers critical discussions for theory development and future research. To achieve this aim, 190 papers with bibliometric analyses from leading hospitality and tourism journals were selected and critically analyzed. The research findings reveal that bibliometric articles published in these journals significantly increased after 2008. However, systematic review studies emerged as the major group, and relatively few studies utilized evaluative bibliometric and relational bibliometric studies. Study results suggest that paucity still exists, particularly in relational bibliometric studies in tourism. This is one of the first studies in this area that offers critical discussions and suggestions related to theory development and future research in this research vein

The Role of Age, Period, and Cohort Effects on Smoking among the Students of Tehran University of Medical Science

The aim of the study is to determine age, period, and cohort effects on trends in student’s cigarette smoking in Tehran University of medical science from 2006 to 2009. We analyzed data from subjects aged 18 to 23 years from Aids Researches Center with Cooperation Environment Researches Center and Accessory collegian. Intrinsic Estimator was used for analysis, that is a new method for resolving linear dependency between age, period, and cohort in linear regression models. In the present study, age effects exhibited increased for both sexes. Also, aging proportion of smoking increased. For both sexes log coefficients were negative at young ages. Period effects for females showed declines but for males there was no significant difference. Cohort effects for females were small and gradual declines were shown for male cohorts. Proportion of smoking at young cohorts was less than old cohorts and log coefficients were negative.There was an increasing trend on age effect .Although a reduction period effect was observed from 2006 to 2009 in females that can be due to utilizing smoking policies in previous years but such a trend was not showed for males. Cohort effect was observed for males and smoking proportion at young cohorts was less than old cohorts

Overexpression and translocation of dynamin 2 promotes tumor aggressiveness in breast carcinomas

Dynamin 2 is a GTPase protein that has been implicated in cancer progression through its various roles such as endocytosis, morphogenesis, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), cellular contractions, and focal adhesion maturation. The increased expression levels of this molecule have been demonstrated with the development of several cancers such as prostate, pancreas, and bladder. However, its clinical significance in breast cancer is unclear yet. In the present study, the membranous, cytoplasmic, and nuclear expression levels of dynamin 2 molecule were evaluated for the first time, using immunohistochemistry (IHC) on tissue microarray (TMA) slides in 113 invasive breast cancer tissues. Moreover, afterward, the association between the dynamin 2 expression and clinicopathological features was determined. Our finding showed that, a higher nuclear expression of dynamin 2 is significantly associated with an increase in tumor stage (P = 0.05), histological grade (P = 0.001), and age of the patients (P = 0.03). In addition, analysis of the cytoplasmic expression levels of this molecule revealed that, there was a statistically significant difference between the expression levels of dynamin 2 among the different breast cancer subtypes (P = 0.003). Moreover, a significant association was found between the increased expression of dynamin 2 membranous and vascular invasion (VI) (P = 0.02). We showed that dynamin 2 protein expression has an association with more aggressive tumor behavior and more advanced disease in the patients with breast cancer; therefore, dynamin 2 molecule could be considered as an indicator of disease progression and aggressiveness

Predicting hotel attractiveness via personality traits of applicants: the moderating role of self-esteem and work experience

Purpose – Despite the fact that hotels rely heavily upon frontline employees, extant evidence on what makes a hotel attractive in the eyes of job applicants is scarce. Thus, this study incorporates the Big Five (BF) personality traits model to identify what potential hotel job applicants are likely to seek in their prospective employers. Design/methodology/approach – Applicants for non-managerial, frontline posts at upscale hotels were approached via 3 branches of a career agency located in England, UK; their responses were gathered via a self-administered questionnaire. The 522 usable responses were utilized in a covariance-based, multi-group structural equation modeling scheme to investigate three main research propositions with regards to the applicants’ personality traits’ influence on their perceptions of a hotel’s attractiveness as a potential employer. Findings - Analysis of responses indicates significant differences regarding the impact of extraversion, conscientiousness and openness on perceived facets of employer attractiveness. Additionally, findings suggest that high self-esteem does make applicants more demanding while work experience also influences their preferences regarding the hotels’ profiles as an employer. Research limitations/implications - The results of this study are limited to applicants for non-managerial, frontline job positions in upscale hotels in the UK. Practical implications - Practically, this study offers practitioners valuable feedback regarding the potential applicant’s personality profile that grants the best fit with a hotel. Originality/value–While different studies tried to identify the organizations’ attributes that attract potential applicants, evidence on what attracts individuals to a hotel is very limited. Hence, the present study tries to address this gap and link potential applicants’ personality profiles with that of hotels as employers