scholarly journals Big data empowered agility for dynamic, volatile, and time-sensitive service industries: the case of tourism sector

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolaos Stylos ◽  
Jeremy Zwiegelaar ◽  
Dimitrios Buhalis
Keyword(s):  
Big Data ◽  
Business Performance ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Service Industries ◽  
Service Organizations ◽  
Service Encounters ◽  
Organizational Decision Making ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Marketing Intelligence

Purpose Dynamic, volatile, and time-sensitive industries, such as tourism, travel and hospitality require agility and market intelligence to create value and achieve competitive advantage. The aim of the current study is to examine the influence of big data (BD) on the performance of service organizations and to probe for a deeper understanding of implementing BD, based on available technologies. Design/methodology/approach An ethnographic study was conducted following an abductive approach. A primary qualitative research scheme was used with 35 information technology and database professionals participating in five online focus groups of seven participants each. Analytical themes were developed simultaneously with the literature being revisited throughout the study to ultimately create sets of common themes and dimensions. Findings BD can help organizations build agility, especially within dynamic industries, to better predict customer behavioral patterns and make tailor-made propositions from the BD. An integrated BD-specific framework is proposed to address value according to the dimensions of need, value, time and utility. Research limitations/implications Little research exists on the key drivers of BD use for dynamic, real-time and agile businesses. This research adds to the developing literature on BD applications to support organizational decision-making and business performance in the tourism industry. Originality/value This study responds to scholars’ recent calls for more empirical research with contextual understanding of the use of BD to add value in marketing intelligence within business ecosystems. It delineates factors contributing to BD value creation and explores the impacts on the respective service encounters.

scholarly journals Research note: customer experience management in cruise pre-consumption

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liz Sharples
Keyword(s):  
Business Performance ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Customer Experience ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Service Industries ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Consumer Experience ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Customer Experience Management ◽  
Tourism Sector

Purpose This study aims to apply the relatively new concept of customer experience management (CXM) to the pre-consumptive stage within a cruise tourist’s journey. Design/methodology/approach The work will apply CXM to the tourism sector and, in particular to the cruise market. Academics have noted how CXM needs to takes a holistic integrated approach and focus on the complete customer experience. The cruise sector has been selected for this research because, it is the fastest growing tourism sector globally and the pre-consumption stage for cruise passengers is longer than for other vacation types. Findings This study has shown how CXM has emerged from the more traditional marketing concept of relationship marketing and has highlighted its relevance within the tourism industry, in particular, the cruise sector. In addition, the work has shown how adapting CXM to the pre-consumptive phase more fully will enhance consumer relationships and improve business performance. Research limitations/implications This work is conceptual. It is proposed that the research propositions should be verified within the pre-consumptive stage of cruise passenger journeys. Another limitation is that the focus has been solely on the cruise sector and future research could be extended to other tourism service industries. Practical implications This work will provide tourism and other service industry managers with a new strategy to enhance consumer experience and improve business performance in the pre-consumptive stage and extend academic understanding within this stage of a cruise tourist’s vacation. Originality/value This research is significant because CXM is a model, which has been used within service businesses, but had a limited application to the cruise sector and to the pre-consumption timeframe. It is important to understand cruise passengers in this time-frame to encourage positive relationships, to potentially increase revenue opportunities and provide an overall improved consumer experience.

Leveraging big-data for business process analytics

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 215-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Vera-Baquero ◽  
Ricardo Colomo Palacios ◽  
Vladimir Stantchev ◽  
Owen Molloy
Keyword(s):  
Big Data ◽  
Process Improvement ◽  
Business Process ◽  
Business Performance ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Heterogeneous Systems ◽  
Map Reduce ◽  
Heterogeneous Environments ◽  
Business Process Improvement ◽  
Content Type

Purpose – This paper aims to present a solution that enables organizations to monitor and analyse the performance of their business processes by means of Big Data technology. Business process improvement can drastically influence in the profit of corporations and helps them to remain viable. However, the use of traditional Business Intelligence systems is not sufficient to meet today ' s business needs. They normally are business domain-specific and have not been sufficiently process-aware to support the needs of process improvement-type activities, especially on large and complex supply chains, where it entails integrating, monitoring and analysing a vast amount of dispersed event logs, with no structure, and produced on a variety of heterogeneous environments. This paper tackles this variability by devising different Big-Data-based approaches that aim to gain visibility into process performance. Design/methodology/approach – Authors present a cloud-based solution that leverages (BD) technology to provide essential insights into business process improvement. The proposed solution is aimed at measuring and improving overall business performance, especially in very large and complex cross-organisational business processes, where this type of visibility is hard to achieve across heterogeneous systems. Findings – Three different (BD) approaches have been undertaken based on Hadoop and HBase. We introduced first, a map-reduce approach that it is suitable for batch processing and presents a very high scalability. Secondly, we have described an alternative solution by integrating the proposed system with Impala. This approach has significant improvements in respect with map reduce as it is focused on performing real-time queries over HBase. Finally, the use of secondary indexes has been also proposed with the aim of enabling immediate access to event instances for correlation in detriment of high duplication storage and synchronization issues. This approach has produced remarkable results in two real functional environments presented in the paper. Originality/value – The value of the contribution relies on the comparison and integration of software packages towards an integrated solution that is aimed to be adopted by industry. Apart from that, in this paper, authors illustrate the deployment of the architecture in two different settings.

Exploring the current issues, challenges and opportunities in tea tourism: a morphological analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanjana Mondal ◽  
Kaushik Samaddar
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Morphological Analysis ◽  
Single Point ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Sustainable Growth ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Critical Dimensions ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Group Sessions

Purpose In quest of exploring the issues, challenges and opportunities prevailing in the tea tourism industry, this study aims to present a comprehensive morphological analysis (MA). More specifically, it identifies critical dimensions that bear significance for the sustainable growth of tea tourism. Design/methodology/approach The present study adopted a triangulation method of research involving an ethnographic study (ES) followed by a series of focus group sessions carried out from the prominent tea-producing districts in India. This study accords equal importance to both the demand and supply perspectives of tea tourism and its stakeholders. Findings Critical dimensions such as improper planning and marketing efforts, limited collaboration among stakeholders, the involvement of local people, socio-economic inequality and consumer’s attitude towards tea tourism were identified as major issues and challenges. Research limitations/implications The present research limits its scope to the geographical boundary within India keeping cross-boundary research for future study. This study will aid future researchers and scholars in expanding the domain of tea tourism. Practical implications The present study bears significance to the policymakers, governing bodies, marketers, tour operators in embracing a socio-economic perspective while undertaking a suitable strategy towards marketing of tea tourism and ensuring its sustainable development. Originality/value This study makes a novel attempt in blending the ES, focus group sessions and MA, together in a single research initiative, making it a single point reference in tea tourism literature.

Examining the influence of strategic profit emphases on employee engagement and service climate

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 152-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn (“Casey”) Findley Musgrove ◽  
Alexander E. Ellinger ◽  
Andrea D. Ellinger
Keyword(s):  
Employee Engagement ◽  
Customer Service ◽  
Service Industries ◽  
Service Organizations ◽  
Job Engagement ◽  
Service Climate ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Service Employees ◽  
Working Environments ◽  
Effective Service

Purpose – Research suggests that employee engagement favorably influences the provision of customer service, that high levels of service employee engagement are rare, and that firms' strategic profit emphases affect engagement and service climate. This study responds to calls for research that identifies drivers of employee engagement and foundational issues that promote effective service climates within service organizations. Design/methodology/approach – A survey method is utilized to assess data from 502 key informant service employees from multiple service industries. Findings – The findings indicate that service organizations' revenue enhancement and cost containment strategic profit emphases differentially influence employee engagement, and that organizational and job engagement differentially influence service climate. Research limitations/implications – Data comprised of individual service employees' perceptions of their firms' strategic profit emphases and service climates are utilized. Although it is conceivable that some respondents' perceptions of these variables may be misguided, the study findings are based on a large sample of experienced service employees from multiple service industries. Practical implications – The findings suggest that the most effective approach for promoting effective service climate is to hire service employees with a track record of job engagement and then focus on encouraging organizational engagement by creating working environments that support, value, and reward service quality. Originality/value – Managers increasingly realize that how firms treat service employees critically affects customer service quality. However, relatively few studies examine service employees' perceptions of their own engagement and their organizations' working environments. This research incorporates social exchange theory and concepts from the fields of strategy and organizational behavior to assess service employees' perceptions of their organizations' strategic profit emphasis and its influence on engagement and service climate.

Prospects of the fourth industrial revolution for the hospitality industry: a literature review

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 479-494
Author(s):  
Benjamin Appiah Osei ◽  
Neethiahnanthan Ari Ragavan ◽  
Henry Kofi Mensah
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Hospitality Industry ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Service Industries ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Fourth Industrial Revolution ◽  
Hospitality And Tourism ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The economy of today has moved toward the fourth industrial revolution (FIR), which is characterized by the adoption of technologies such as cyber-physical systems, internet of things, big data, artificial intelligence and robotics. Globally, there is a lot of awareness created on the influence of the FIR on all industries, including hospitality and tourism. A plethora of studies on FIR have been conducted in the setting of manufacturing industries. Nonetheless, there seems to be in-exhaustive and non-consensual agreement among researchers as to the development and prospects of the FIR for service industries. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to comprehensively review the prospects of the FIR for the hospitality and tourism industry. Design/methodology/approach As a result of the novelty and gaps associated with the FIR in the hospitality literature, the authors explored the concept of FIR using a comprehensive literature review approach. Specifically, this paper reviews existing literature from diverse academic backgrounds, and annotates issues with regard to the evolution and prospects of the FIR for the hospitality industry. Findings Emphatically, the development and principles of FIR were expatiated. Additionally, an exegesis was carried out on the prospects (positives and challenges) of FIR for the hospitality industry. Finally, practical and social implications were also discussed. Originality/value It still remains a discourse among scholars and industry stakeholders as to the prospects of the FIR. This paper clarifies the confusion among researchers and bridges the literature gaps. Moreover, this review serves as a theoretical foundation for future research on the impact of FIR on the hospitality industry.

Environmental knowledge strategy: driving success of the hospitality industry

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 662-680 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aurora Martínez-Martínez ◽  
Juan Gabriel Cegarra Navarro ◽  
Alexeis García-Pérez ◽  
Ana Moreno-Ponce
Keyword(s):  
Structural Equation ◽  
Business Performance ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Equation Model ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Environmental Knowledge ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Knowledge Strategy ◽  
Hospitality Sector ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The dynamics of tourism as both an activity and an industry, combined with the growing concerns about the environment, call for continuous efforts in seeking new approaches, tools and perspectives for the acquisition of environmental knowledge by organisations in the hospitality sector. The purpose of this research is to examine the relationships between environmental knowledge, organisational learning and business performance in the context of the tourism industry. Emphasis is made on understanding the process of updating the environmental knowledge base of an organisation through appropriate learning processes within the business. Design/methodology/approach Using a structural equation model, feedback received from 87 companies from the Spanish hospitality sector in a longitudinal study consisting of two distinct phases in 2008 and 2014 was studied. Findings The results of the analysis indicate that environmental knowledge has a positive impact on business performance. Also, the study found that a review of the levels of awareness about environmental problems across the organisation is required at regular intervals (in this research, six years after the initial analysis). Practical implications The focus on the hospitality sector makes this research relevant for a significant number of hotels and their supply chains around the world. Originality/value The research has addressed the challenges of sustainability and environmental performance from a perspective not previously covered in the extant literature, an approach further improved by the longitudinal nature of this study, performed over a period of six years.

Small business performance in Thailand: key success factors

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rujirutana Mandhachitara ◽  
Siriporn (NaPombhejara) Allapach
Keyword(s):  
Small Business ◽  
Market Orientation ◽  
Small Businesses ◽  
Business Performance ◽  
Success Factors ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Marketing Metrics ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Marketing Intelligence ◽  
Small Business Performance

Purpose This paper investigates how affirmative leadership management styles, market orientation and marketing intelligence drive the performance of small business enterprises in Bangkok, Thailand. Design/methodology/approach Small business performance is a formative measurement consisting of financial and marketing metrics. Other constructs are reflective. Some 200 manager-owners of small businesses were interviewed. The authors use structural modeling, partial least squares (PLS). Research limitations/implications The data were collected from two of 50 districts in Bangkok. The study is cross-sectional. Performance measures were self-reported. Practical implications Building and exercising affirmative leadership skills and behaviors in small business operations is crucial. Small businesses should focus their recruitment on this quality. Affirmative leaders must create and promote a systematic approach to gathering and analyzing market intelligence on customers and competitors and utilize this strategically. Originality/value This empirical paper establishes two important mediating roles of market orientation. First, affirmative leadership is necessary to motivate a market-oriented enterprise in its successful performance. Second, marketing intelligence contributes to business performance when it is driven by market orientation.

A generalizable sentiment analysis method for creating a hotel dictionary: using big data on TripAdvisor hotel reviews

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sayeh Bagherzadeh ◽  
Sajjad Shokouhyar ◽  
Hamed Jahani ◽  
Marianna Sigala
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Big Data ◽  
Sentiment Analysis ◽  
Learning Algorithm ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Bag Of Words ◽  
Machine Learning Algorithm ◽  
End User ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Customer Reviews

Purpose Research analyzing online travelers’ reviews has boomed over the past years, but it lacks efficient methodologies that can provide useful end-user value within time and budget. This study aims to contribute to the field by developing and testing a new methodology for sentiment analysis that surpasses the standard dictionary-based method by creating two hotel-specific word lexicons. Design/methodology/approach Big data of hotel customer reviews posted on the TripAdvisor platform were collected and appropriately prepared for conducting a binary sentiment analysis by developing a novel bag-of-words weighted approach. The latter provides a transparent and replicable procedure to prepare, create and assess lexicons for sentiment analysis. This approach resulted in two lexicons (a weighted lexicon, L1 and a manually selected lexicon, L2), which were tested and validated by applying classification accuracy metrics to the TripAdvisor big data. Two popular methodologies (a public dictionary-based method and a complex machine-learning algorithm) were used for comparing the accuracy metrics of the study’s approach for creating the two lexicons. Findings The results of the accuracy metrics confirmed that the study’s methodology significantly outperforms the dictionary-based method in comparison to the machine-learning algorithm method. The findings also provide evidence that the study’s methodology is generalizable for predicting users’ sentiment. Practical implications The study developed and validated a methodology for generating reliable lexicons that can be used for big data analysis aiming to understand and predict customers’ sentiment. The L2 hotel dictionary generated by the study provides a reliable method and a useful tool for analyzing guests’ feedback and enabling managers to understand, anticipate and re-actively respond to customers’ attitudes and changes. The study also proposed a simplified methodology for understanding the sentiment of each user, which, in turn, can be used for conducting comparisons aiming to detect and understand guests’ sentiment changes across time, as well as across users based on their profiles and experiences. Originality/value This study contributes to the field by proposing and testing a new methodology for conducting sentiment analysis that addresses previous methodological limitations, as well as the contextual specificities of the tourism industry. Based on the paper’s literature review, this is the first research study using a bag-of-words approach for conducting a sentiment analysis and creating a field-specific lexicon.

The impact of market orientation levels on business performance results

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 296-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergei Kazakov
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Emerging Markets ◽  
Market Orientation ◽  
Business Performance ◽  
Service Industry ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Service Industries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Orientation Model ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of market orientation on a companyµs business performance in a service industry using one of the emerging markets as a research setting. Design/methodology/approach The examination of two recognized MKTOR and MARCOR market orientation concepts in this paper led to the development of a market orientation model in a service industry that considers the local specifics of doing business. The model was tested in a study of 133 businesses that operate in a Russian service industry. The data analysis was completed to investigate and measure the impact of the market orientation level on a company’s business performance. Findings The data analysis following the field study determines that market orientation delivers a positive impact on the company’s overall business performance. Practical implications Inter-functional coordination should receive broad attention from company management, as this market orientation element is the most vital for business performance – especially in service industries. Accompanying model elements also provide leverage to business performance that should not be overlooked. Synchronized utilization of the market orientation model elements has a very positive impact on the company’s business. Originality/value This research paper contributes to an array of publications dedicated to market orientation in one of the most multifaceted emerging markets, the Russian Federation. It is also the first time that the market orientation concept has been applied by service industry organizations in Russia.

The impact of strategic quality orientation on innovation capabilities and sustainable business growth

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (8) ◽  
pp. 1568-1598 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bilal Ahmad Khan ◽  
Hummayoun Naeem
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Service Industries ◽  
Service Organizations ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Business Growth ◽  
Sustainable Business ◽  
Empirical Examination ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present a new conceptual framework for service organizations to achieve sustainable business performance through strategic quality orientation and innovation capabilities on the basis of relevant literature review and integration of various innovation and business sustainability theories and models. The study tests if the strategic quality orientation enhances innovation capabilities in terms of exploitation and explorative innovation, which, in turn, can lead to sustainable business growth. Mediating impact of innovation capabilities between strategic quality orientation and sustainable business growth relationship is also examined.Design/methodology/approachA conceptual framework was developed to test and establish these relationships. Results were analyzed based on 442 questionnaires collected from five different service industries of Pakistan, and the structural equation modeling technique was used to empirically test the conceptual framework.FindingsThe results indicate that strategic quality orientation directly affects innovation capabilities and sustainable business growth and also indirectly impacts sustainable business growth through its effect on innovation capabilities.Practical implicationsThe study suggests service organizations can jointly implement quality and innovation using a structured approach, with strategic quality orientation as the foundation. In this way, they can leverage from their strategic quality management, supplier relationship, corporate quality culture, continual improvement and people management in order to ensure innovation and sustainability in their business growth.Originality/valueThe study integrates strategic quality orientation and innovation capabilities, and validates a new organizational framework through empirical examination which can be used by service organizations to ensure their sustainable business growth.

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