Fairtrade coffee consumption in Spain: Employing dual attitudes and construal level theory to draw insights on the ethical purchasing gap

As a contribution to the debate about Fair Trade contributions to the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals, this article investigates Spanish shoppers’ behaviour towards Fairtrade coffee. Although consumers generally state that they purchase fairly traded products, the market shares of most of them remain low, a phenomenon known as the ethical purchasing gap. Our review identifies a gap in extant literature to draw insights on the ethical purchasing gap, utilising two existing theories: attitudes and construal level as appropriate theoretical framework. The first theory highlights the duality of individuals’ attitudes towards an object: explicit attitudes are accessible to the consumers, whereas implicit attitudes are the ones they cannot recall, but nonetheless affect behaviour. The second theory examines the influence of low-level construal (concrete, specific) or high-level construal (general) information on decision-making. A three-stage experiment took place in two sessions in a large university in Madrid in order to apply these two theories. It was based on an online survey on explicit attitudes and purchase intention, and an Implicit Association Test (IAT) to identify implicit attitudes. It was run two weeks apart to capture three points of time effects. The results reveal that, despite exposure to different stimuli, implicit attitudes remain stable along three points of time. The average difference in purchase intentions was positive for low-level construal and negative for high-level construal. Explicit attitudes were not influenced by the exposure to the stimuli. No correlation was found between purchase intentions and implicit or explicit attitudes. These findings have useful managerial implications for both Fair Trade practitioners and academics

Enhancing social media engagement by the hospitality industry: The power of customer experience dimensions

The purpose of this study is to explore how publications on social media related to hotel experience influence key customer purchasing behaviour variables, thereby extending research concerning guests' decision-making processes by demonstrating empirically that attachment is a mediating variable between engagement and booking intention. The study also aims to identify the type of online publications focused on hotel experiential dimensions that offers the best results in terms of users' affective responses. Based on a panel survey of 1279 potential hotel guests conducted in January 2021, a multi-group model shows that interactions with social media content improve brand attachment and booking intention. In addition, the experiential dimensions have a moderating effect. Publications that refer to localization produce better outcomes than those produced by guest mentions and ambience. These results suggest guidance for hotel managers regarding communication strategies for social media based on experience cues, interaction and the establishment of emotional bonds with potential customers

Experiencia de Cliente en Hoteles: Cómo atraer usuarios para mejorar la comunicación boca-oído y la intención de reserva

Tesis Doctoral inédita leída en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Departamento de Financiación e Investigación Comercial. Fecha de Lectura: 14-12-202

The influential role of hotel-generated content on social media

Purpose: This study aims to determine how hotel-generated content (HGC) on official social media accounts influences booking intention by considering the mediating role of three key constructs: user evaluations of the perceived quality of information, engagement and brand attitude. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 834 valid online questionnaires were collected to empirically test the measurement and structural model using a partial least square path modeling approach. Findings: Although HGC does not have a direct effect on booking intention, this construct has a positive influence on both the perceived quality of information and engagement, which in turn positively influence booking intention. In addition, greater engagement generates a positive attitude, which increases booking intention. Originality/value: This study represents a new step in understanding the influence of HGC on tourist behavior by extending research on guests’ decision-making processes and empirically demonstrating the chain of related influences that begins with HGC to promote booking intention

Characterisation of microbial attack on archaeological bone

As part of an EU funded project to investigate the factors influencing bone preservation in the archaeological record, more than 250 bones from 41 archaeological sites in five countries spanning four climatic regions were studied for diagenetic alteration. Sites were selected to cover a range of environmental conditions and archaeological contexts. Microscopic and physical (mercury intrusion porosimetry) analyses of these bones revealed that the majority (68%) had suffered microbial attack. Furthermore, significant differences were found between animal and human bone in both the state of preservation and the type of microbial attack present. These differences in preservation might result from differences in early taphonomy of the bones. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved