What matters most? Factors influencing international students’ satisfaction towards cafeteria foods

The Malaysian government is focusing on developing education tourism to boost tourist arrivals.Apart from acquiring education, students’ well-being in terms of food-consumption is a major fragment in a student’s life. This paper puts emphasize on evaluating tourist resources as a component of tourism development through identification of international students’ demands on food and how the foodservice suppliers should adjust to this. In particular, it will address international students’ satisfaction towards cafeteria foods in university foodservice in Malaysia via extracting the salient factors that matters most in their evaluation of quality food and food price. Qualitative approach via open ended comment cards were distributed among 55 international students during April 2013 and content analysis was done on the feedbacks gathered. Based on the findings, majority of international students were dissatisfied with the taste, nutrition, hygiene, temperature, freshness and price of the food served by the cafeterias. This study will add to the under-researched area of foodservice sector academically and practically via identification of factors which international students’ think are important as quality food with acceptable price towards their satisfaction in cafeteria dining. This will benefit the university foodservice operators in providing best practices as one of the tourism suppliers in enhancing tourism development

Public Expenditures and Wellbeing of Fishing Community in Malaysia: A Comprehensive Review

The issue of food security has garnered worldwide interest in light of growing apprehensions regarding population increase and climate change on a global scale. Therefore, this review examines the intricate relationship between public expenditures, food security, the sustainability of fish availability, and the overall welfare of Malaysian fishery communities. Given that the fishing industry is a crucial source of sustenance and income for these communities, it is essential to comprehend the intricate relationships between public financial allocations, food security, and sustainable fishing practises. Through a comprehensive synthesis of existing literature, data analysis, and policy evaluations, this review study sheds light on the complex relationships between public expenditures, food security, fish availability sustainability, and the overall well-being of Malaysian fishing communities. The findings of the review disclose the ripple effects of increased food security and sustainable fish availability on the general welfare of fishing communities. It recognises that when public expenditures effectively resolve food security issues, fishing communities experience improved physical health, decreased hunger vulnerability, and increased economic stability. These positive outcomes not only contribute to the immediate well-being of community members, but they also foster social cohesion and pave the way for long-term development. This study seeks to guide policymakers, stakeholders, and practitioners towards informed decision-making that fosters resilient fishing communities, ensures food security, and promotes the sustainable use of marine resources. The study will further help the policy makers to develop strategy to improve the sustainability of fish and the wellbeing of fishing community in Malaysia

Perceived innovation characteristics as predictors of green practice adoption in the Nigerian hotel industry

Green practice has frequently been acknowledged as an essential and common concept, which businesses implement to achieve some business superiority over competitors.However, studies on environmental practices are seldom conducted in Nigeria.The objective of this paper is to examine the influence of perceived innovation characteristics on the adoption of green practices in the hotel. Samples were collected using proportionate stratified random sampling.Data were collected using 80 questionnaires from the 100 distributed, and then analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS).Founded on theory of diffusion, this study evaluated three measurements of perceived innovation characteristics influencing the likely adoption of green practices from the perspectives of general managers in the four and five star rated hotels in Kaduna.The study model proposes that hotel's intention to embrace green practices is influenced by the three dimensions of innovation characteristics: perceived compatibility, perceived complexity and the apparent relative advantage.A multiple regression performed indicates perceived compatibility and relative advantage relating positively to likelihood of adoption.The outcomes of this paper may offer valuable understandings of green practices.The findings of this study are practically useful for general managers when developing and implementing organizational innovative policies to ensure sustainable operations

Predictors of likelihood of adoption of green practices in hotels: the case of Abuja and Lagos, Nigeria

Despite the high level of awareness of sustainable practices around the globe, and literature s on its adoption in businesses, studies showed very few studies are conducted in less advanced countries like Nigeria.Given the rising consumption of resources, apprehension for the environs and sudden realization among people for practices that are friendlier, the trend is gradually picking up in the Nigerian hotel industry. The hotel is facing challenges accepting green practices due to little information on green practice and its perceived benefits, government inability to enforce regulations on environmental sanitation, and absence of enlightenment promotion of green practice.This study strives to determine factors likely to motivate hotels to adopt innovative ways of operating in Nigeria. Based on Rogers‟ theory of innovation diffusion, this study decided to establish perceived innovation characteristics, perceived environmental characteristics, organizational characteristics and stakeholders‟ influence as determinants for likely adoption. Data was collected from General Managers of hotels (363 in number) in Abuja and Lagos.Using Partial Least Squares (PLS) path modelling, the findings indicate all perceived predictors positively correlated to likelihood of adoption

Beyond the motivation theory of destination image

Purpose – The existing literature has accepted the view that the destination image can be explained by the motivation theory. According to this theory the destination image can be explained by either the internal motivation of tourists or the external motivation originating from the destination. The purpose of this paper is to critically review the literature to build an appropriate research framework for understanding the formation of destination image by international tourists. Design, Methodology and Approach – The literature pertaining to destination image till recently can be divided into three evolutionary stages with stage boundaries marked by the seminal reviews by Echtner & Ritchie in 1991 and by Pike in 2002. The two main focuses of the destination image research are – measurement and theory of the destination image. The evolution of measurement and theory is reviewed, in this conceptual paper, through these stages justifying the proposed new research framework. Findings – The existing theories do not take in to account some of the modern variables such as perceived risks of travel and the power of social networks that fuel word of mouth. Originality of Research – All the conceptual discussions and views are original

Relationship of food quality and food price on international students' satisfaction in UUM cafeterias

The food and beverage industry has been a prominent industry in the world.University food service has also become one of the services that need to be considered in order to gratify students by providing food in universities.University foodservice is one of the largest sectors of the food service industry and moreover, college student consumer group is getting larger.The main objective of this paper is to examine the relationship of food quality and food price on international students‘ satisfaction in UUM cafeterias.A mixed-method approach was applied in this study which includes both qualitative and quantitative methods.In order to identify the current research problem, an initial pre-data collection was being done by distributing comment cards to the international students to gain feedback regarding their satisfaction towards food quality and food price while patronizing in UUM cafeterias. Based on the findings, majority of international students were dissatisfied with the taste, freshness, temperature, portion, and price.The second phase of this study, which is quantitative method, was conducted. Multiple regression analysis was done to examine the significant relationship between food quality and food price on international students‘ satisfaction in UUM cafeterias. Results revealed that taste, freshness, portion and price have significant relationship with international students‘ satisfaction. Meanwhile, temperature was not found to be significantly associated with international students‘ satisfaction.The results of this study are important to UUM management to improve cafeteria service in the future

Relating individual’s acceptability and service failure

Academic research on service failure is continuously evolving. This includes literature on service failure categories, core service failure, failure types, causes of failure, responses to failure and consequences following having service failures. Although much has been said regarding service failure, there is neither a clear, concise definition nor concrete empirical evidence found on what actually constitutes service failure. Service failure is generally accepted as a socially constructed concept, due to the variability and inseparability nature of services, service failure might mean different thing to different people. Based on previous literature, among the most cited theme for service failure is “delivery which does not meet or falls below customers’ expectations” (Bell and Zemke, 1987; Andreassen, 2001; Sparks, 2001; Lovelock and Wright, 2002; Holloway and Beatty, 2003). This implies that customers have a predetermined expectation before consuming a service. However, this general definition does not take into account or express in more detail on the “how”, “when” and “at what stage” the service delivery falls below the expectation and failure actually starts. This paper also forwards the acceptability theory whereby it is depicted that the acceptability of service failure is solely depending on the individuals’ tolerance. One failure can be a severe failure to one individual while it might just be insignificant to another. This conceptual paper attempts to understand the nature of service failure and how it is currently perceived based on varying perspectives. The purpose of this paper is to generate some propositions to help to understand better how individuals’ perceive service failure based on individuals’ acceptability, which will then hope to lead to a novel definition of service failure

What it takes to be a manager: The case of Malaysian five-star resort hotels

This article investigates the requirement for managerial posts in five-star resort hotels in Malaysia. Despite the growth of hotel industry in Malaysia, academic literature especially qualitative empirical study focusing on the human capital needs of the industry in the country is scarce. Different from other industries, in the hotel industry a Bachelor’s Degree hardly guarantees the attainment of management position. Based on interviews with 42 hotel employees including 19 managers from six hotels, this article suggests that work experience and leadership skill is crucial for hotel managers to perform their job. Other requirements are knowledge,education and English proficiency. This suggestion is supported by the employees’ profile. The implications are discussed, emphasizing the need to consider increasing hotel students’ work experience in the industry and enhancing their leadership skill