tourism marketing research. Corporate databases and nation-wide study sampling often con- tributed to the large sample size. Although empirical hospitality and tourism marketing research tended to be conducted based on high-response rates, the general lack of reports on exact response rates in many studies prohibits detecting significant trends.
Researchers most frequently used descriptive data analysis methods including, for example, content analysis, correlation, t-test, frequency and cross-tabulation, and impor- tance-performance analysis. Multivariate techniques such as factor, cluster, and discrimi- nant analyses also showed high-usage rates, especially coupled with the methods of the analysis-of-variance family in market segmentation studies. Causal modeling using regres- sion, logit, and structural equation analyses shared strong popularity, when compared to techniques such as time series, conjoint, and artificial neural networks. Used in a much lesser frequency were special analysis methods such as the analytical hierarchical process, repertory grid analysis, cohort analysis, data envelopment analysis, and discrete choice analysis. Overall, applications of statistical data analysis methods converged on their type and frequency to those reported earlier by Bowen and Sparks (1998).
Introduction: Tourism and Hospitality Marketing Research 11 goers (Akama & Kieti, 2003), motor coach travelers (Hsu, 2003), and vacation golfers (Petrick & Backman, 2002). In general, although these studies provide good application examples for the existing satisfaction theory, they fall short of making a significant break- through in satisfaction theory beyond the widely adopted expectancy model.
Despite its close link to satisfaction research, complaining behavior received limited attention. According to Jones, McCleary, and Lepisto (2002), about 20% of baby boomers are active complainers, if necessary, and chronic verbal complainers tend to be younger, employed, with children, less price-conscious, and self-assertive. Satisfaction as a result of online complaints was affected by how fast the company responded to the complaint and technology enthusiasts seemed to be less tolerant about delayed complaint handling (Mount & Mattila, 2002). Financial implications of timely problem handling are well doc- umented in Miller and Grazer (2003). Lam and Tang (2003) applied equity theory to understand complaining behaviors and reported demographic characteristics of typical restaurant complainers. Most studies of complaining behavior tended to focus somewhat narrowly on episodic problem situations and the resulting satisfaction and, hence, the neg- ative effect of the problem could be exaggerated; marketers need to understand customer complaints as a part of a more general consumption and evaluation process.
The main and dyadic effects of service failure and recovery efforts by companies received recurrent research attention since their relatively recent debut in the hospitality and tourism research. Using a corporate database, Oh (2003) reexamines a fundamental assumption of service failure-recovery research, called the recovery paradox, and reports that the concept could not be empirically supported. Mattila and Mount (2003) newly apply justice theory and find significant effects of distributive, interactional, and procedural justices or fairness on sat- isfaction with recovery efforts. Service failures seem to be common in both the United States and Ireland, but recovery efforts appeared to be more extensive in the former due to high-cus- tomer expectations (Mueller, Palmer, Mack, & McMullan, 2003). Research design on these topics is challenging because many known moderating variables come into play in actual sit- uations (e.g., Mattila, 1999; Sundaram, Jurowski, & Webster, 1997) and, thus, reported results tend to be highly case sensitive, thereby impeding development of a general theory.
Market Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning
Market segmentation research alone took more space than any other single research topic in the hospitality and tourism journals. A predominant segmentation approach was the combi- national use of factor analysis for data reduction, cluster analysis for classification, analysis of variance and discriminant analysis for cross-method validations of the classification results, descriptive profiling of each cluster, and other subsequent analyses depending on the study objectives (see also Dolnicar, 2002 for an illustration). Minor variations, however, existed in the target sample or market to be segmented, the focus of segmentation variables, and method- specific segmentation results. A segmentation grounded in an existing arousal theory is inter- esting in that an a priori specified theory was used to expect cluster results (Sirakaya, Uysal,
& Yoshioka, 2003). Several researchers applied non-traditional segmentation methods such as a gerontographic approach combining the aging process and life circumstance (Moschis, Curasi, & Bellenger, 2003), a chi-square automatic interaction detection model (Chen, 2003), and artificial neural networks (Kim, Wei, & Ruys, 2003b).
In contrast to the quantity of market segmentation research, the knowledge generated is somewhat fragmentary and local. Use of different segmentation criteria or variables, narrowly targeted products or destinations, and pervasive convenience sampling seem to have caused such divergent outcomes without contributing much to the mainstream progress in segmenta- tion research. Moreover, most segmentation studies were driven by data post hoc, thereby inhibiting theoretical predictions and testing of the segmentation outcomes. Combined with the highly subjective nature of the decision on the number of clusters, these data-driven seg- mentation approaches could have produced chance outcomes in most cases. Another critical issue in segmentation research is that most researchers failed to advance beyond securing only high internal reliability of the segmented market structures; seriously lacking were the efforts to justify externally the value of the resulting market structure by satisfying, for example, Kotler, Bowen, and Makens’ (2003) assessment criteria — accessibility, measurability, sub- stantiality, and actionability. Testing and discussing the stability of the method-dependent cluster solution was largely ignored as well (Dolnicar, 2002).
Despite their strategic importance and logical connection to market segmentation, target- ing and positioning were relatively neglected research topics. Brown and Ragsdale (2002) applied data envelopment analysis to assess brand positioning and market efficiency of hotel brands and found that inefficient brands tended to result in lower customer satisfaction and value perceptions. Relying on correspondence analysis and logit modeling, Chen and Uysal (2002) attempted to determine an ideal positioning of Virginia against seven other eastern states. In the future, targeting and positioning research as a natural byproduct of market seg- mentation studies deserves serious considerations. Linking targeting and positioning issues to image research is also likely to prove an interesting line of inquiry.
Consumer Relationship Marketing/Management and Loyalty
Although consumer relationship marketing and loyalty had established distinct research traditions, with the former having evolved around the concepts of trust and commitment and the latter relating to repeat purchases, recent studies on both topics tended to gradu- ally converge to a comprehensive research framework for retaining markets. One catalyst for such a movement seems to be a recent, general shift in the focus of marketing research from consumers’ rational to emotional decision-making processes. Emphasis on emotional commitment for creating strong customer relationships and loyalty is well reflected in industry practices (Shoemaker & Bowen, 2003), national consumer opinions about seg- ment-specific lodging offerings (Barsky & Nash, 2002), and casino club members’ con- tinued patronage (Baloglu, 2002; Sui & Baloglu, 2003). Potential common antecedents to customer loyalty and business-to-customer (B2C) relationships include satisfaction (Back
& Parks, 2003; Oh, 2002), the firm’s market orientation characteristics (Kim, McCahon,
& Miller, 2003a), corporate image (Christou, 2003; Kandampully & Suhartanto, 2003), and the firm’s dependability and familiarity (Macintosh, 2002).
Several researchers applied new methodological frameworks to relationship marketing and loyalty. Morais and Zillifro (2003) use resource exchange theory to understand the relationship between nature-based tourism providers and their customers, while Au and Law (2002) examine relationships in tourism dining by means of mathematical rough set theory. A new analytic approach to loyalty in application of artificial neural networks 12 Haemoon Oh et al.
12 Haemoon Oh et al.
appears in Tsaur et al.’s (2002b) study and the Markov process was adopted to model rela- tionships and loyalty in Kozak, Huan, and Beaman’s (2002).
With active research programs still unfolding in this area, some challenges remain to be resolved. First, given the nature of the focal concepts, longitudinal investigations into how B2C relationships and emotional loyalty develop and evolve over time are needed, perhaps by means of analytical tools like survival analysis. Second, applicability of the relationship and loyalty concepts to tourism destinations and destination marketing organizations is questionable, calling for illustrations and guidelines (see Fyall, Callod, & Edwards, 2003).
The same issue pertains to hotels and resorts located in remote tourist destinations whose major markets are mostly novice leisure travelers. Third, ways of efficiently and competi- tively managing relationship and loyalty programs await further research, especially with regard to emotional and affective aspects. Additional research efforts that can build on Brownell and Reynolds (2002) and Pan (2003) are needed to enrich marketers’ under- standing of not only “backward” business-to-business (B2B) relationships with suppliers but also “forward” B2B relationships with eMediaries and other distribution channels.
Electronic Marketing and E-Commerce Research
Effective Website designs seem to be a significant issue, as the largest number of e-mar- keting studies concentrated on understanding how to elicit favorable product/service per- ceptions and generate actual sales transactions via change of Website features. Researchers stressed that effective Websites could be built with features of social interaction and emo- tion (Dubs, Bel, & Sears, 2003), transactional security (Law & Wong, 2003), informational integrity and navigational ease (Jeong, Oh, & Gregoire, 2003), and multimedia and virtual footages (Cho, Wang, & Fesenmaier, 2002; Kasavana, 2002). E-distribution issues exam- ined include selection of hotel distribution channels by travelers and continued growth of dotcom companies (Carroll & Siguaw, 2003), upcoming competition of traditional eMediaries with Digital TV and mCommerce (Buhalis & Licata, 2002), necessary coop- eration among e-channels (Pearce, 2002), and determinants of e-shopping intention (Christou & Kassianidis, 2002). Finally, general Internet marketing strategies and some guidelines for developing competitive online strategies are discussed in the work of Murphy and Tan (2003), Sigala (2003), and Wang, Yu, and Fesenmaier (2002).
Research on electronic marketing is in its inception stage, mostly addressing how industry and customers adopt the constantly updated technology for marketing exchanges.
As such, it is common that many studies reported a year or so ago become obsolete today;
hence, research programs that focus on the current developments of e-commerce are likely to be short-lived in their contribution to marketing knowledge. Researchers will have to reevaluate most existing marketing theories for creative applications in e-commerce and, more importantly, it is the time to think about cyberspace as a primary place for testing as well as developing new marketing theories.
Motivation, Choice, Perceptions, and Performance Evaluations
Travel motivations, typically separated into push and pull factors, continue to be a frequent concern to researchers. Motivations and pull factors affecting destination choice and Introduction: Tourism and Hospitality Marketing Research 13
evaluations were examined for different destinations as well as different groups of travel- ers in Caldwell and Coshall (2003), Kim and Jogaratnam (2002), and Kozak (2002b). The underlying process of embodying travel motivations was insightfully analyzed via a means-end framework (Klenosky, 2002). In a similar vein, hospitality and destination choice scenarios are modeled in application of new theories and approaches such as ran- dom utility theory and discrete choice analysis (Verma, Plaschka, & Louviere, 2002;
Verma & Plaschka, 2003), the Lancasterian product characteristics framework (Seddighi
& Theocharous, 2002), and a rule-based heuristic process based on the chi-square auto- matic interaction detection algorithm (Middelkoop, Borgers, & Timmermans, 2003).
Experiential perceptions and performance evaluations also were recurring topics in recent years. Hardine, Wooldridge, and Jones (2003) analyzed how customers perceive performance of hotel staff, while other researchers examined specific destination perceptions of tourists and their consequences (Rittichainuwat, Qu, & Mongknonvanit, 2002; Pike, 2003; Vogt &
Andereck, 2003). Restaurant crowding and patrons’ attribution-dependent satisfaction were the focus of Heung, Wong, and Qu’s (2002) study. In general, most studies in this area pro- duced results that were highly specific to the target product or destination evaluated and, thus, limited generality in obtained knowledge. The main reason for this was perhaps the lack of standardized theoretical approaches to studying perceptions and performance evaluations.
Service Quality and Delivery
The vehemently debated model, SERVQUAL, of Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1988) continued to receive attention in hospitality and tourism research, although the topic has become a bit “cold” in recent years. Yoon and Ekinci (2003) reexamine the SERVQUAL dimensions of hotel services by using an alternative Guttman scaling procedure, while Gilbert and Wong (2003) study a similar issue for airline passenger services. Khan (2003) develops an ECOSERV version to tap ecotourists’ service quality expectations and Walsh (2002) distinguishes expert-based versus service-oriented delivery strategies of services. Service frequency seems to differ across firms and service delivery designs tend to be biased toward particular customer characteristics (Harris, Bojanic, & Cannon, 2003). New approaches used to assess firms’ service quality and deliv- ery include fuzzy multiple criteria decision theory in the airline industry (Tsaur et al., 2002a) and critical incident techniques in the gaming environment (Johnson, 2002).
Organizational efforts to improve service quality and delivery process are reflected in some internal marketing studies such as Hancer and George (2003) and Kim et al. (2003a).
Service quality and delivery is another area awaiting a major theoretical breakthrough.
Most studies have addressed issues related to definition of service quality, its measure- ment, and its empirical dimensions. Seriously lacking has been an endeavor to advance its theoretical status beyond Parasuraman et al.’s (1988) method-oriented conception of serv- ice quality. Discovering unique consequences of service quality may be one beginning step toward a theoretical progress (e.g., Dean, Morgan, & Tan, 2002), while clarifying the rel- ative role of service quality against other similar concepts like performance, satisfaction, and value may lead to conceptual enrichment (see Oliver, 1997). Furthermore, additional research is needed to probe more elaborate and interactional aspects of service delivery processes and strategies.
14 Haemoon Oh et al.
14 Haemoon Oh et al.
Sales, Demand, and Capacity Management
The hospitality and tourism industries face unique supply and demand problems, which greatly influence companies’ sales strategies. General factors affecting tourism demands are explored in the works of Hiemstra and Wong (2002), Tan, McCahon, and Miller (2002), and Kim and Qu (2002); Higham and Hinch (2002) discuss ways to overcome sea- sonality in sport and tourism. Formica and McCleary (2003) illustrate seven steps for esti- mating demands for a conference center, while other researchers used rough set theory and a time-varying parameter model, or a Kalman filter, to analyze and forecast tourism demands (Goh & Law, 2003; Song & Wong, 2003). Pullman and Thompson (2002) explore management strategies for maximizing capacity in the resort service system by applying queuing theory and simulation. Given the relatively weak emphasis placed on management science concepts in hospitality and tourism curricula, these studies provide strong impetus for future research and education in the discipline.
Comparatively less research attention was given to sales-oriented organizational issues like sales promotions and personal selling. Taylor and Long-Tolbert (2002) examined the influence of coupons on consumers’ quick service restaurant purchases and Lucas and Bowen (2002) assessed the effectiveness of large-scale casino promotions. Corporate travel managers’ and salespeople’s personal selling techniques are empirically identified in Weilbaker and Crocker’s (2002) study. Research on sales promotions and personal selling needs to be conducted at the level of not only the firm’s organized efforts but also individ- ual service employees’ interactions with customers, because service encounters are known as “moments of truth” or sources of “critical incidents” for both current and future sales.
Pricing and Revenue/Yield Management
Pricing-related research covered fairly diverse issues, with general modeling efforts to be noticed. Pellinen (2003) describes pricing decision models and processes employed by tourism enterprises and Dwyer, Forsyth, and Rao (2002) attempt to develop international indices of tourism price competitiveness and discuss the factors that may affect the indices over time across destinations. Another modeling effort appears in Tyrrell and Johnston’s (2003) study in which a standardized method of assessing changes in tourists’ expenditure across state welcome centers and the method’s effectiveness are discussed in an empirical application. Using conjoint analysis, Mazanec (2002) investigates tourists’ perceptions of travel packages and of the companies selling them to determine the influence of Euro pric- ing and pricing in local currency. Additional unique, interesting attempts include hedonic pricing based on product and service characteristics at bed and breakfast facilities (Monty
& Skidmore, 2003) and pricing models for online auctions in the lodging industry (Kasavana & Singh, 2002). It is surprising that current price competition and erosion occurring in online transactions was not addressed in pricing research.
Other Topics
Besides the major trends discussed above, several lines of research are notable. Hospitality customers’ tipping behaviors were examined in relation to the essential reasons and Introduction: Tourism and Hospitality Marketing Research 15
antecedents of tipping (Dewald, 2003), expectancy disconfirmation of services (Tse, 2003), and the magnitude and measurement scale effects of tipping (Lynn, 2003; Lynn &
Sturman, 2003). Image research addressed the roles of famous individuals and icons in developing tourist attractions (Kim & Richardson, 2003; Pearce, Morrison, & Moscardo, 2003), selection of appropriate research methods (Gallarza, Saura, & García, 2002), and tests of different measurement models (Kim & Yoon, 2003; Litvin & Goh, 2002).
Proposed factors affecting tourists’ information search behavior include travel purpose and tourist characteristics (Lo, Cheung, & Law, 2002), culture (Money & Crotts, 2003), and prior knowledge (Gursoy, 2003). Tourists’ product and destination choices were under- stood in light of their sensation seeking (Pizam, Reichel, & Uriely, 2002), novelty seeking (Petrick, 2002), and variety seeking (Andsager & Drzewiecka, 2002). Stimulated perhaps by the September 11 incident and Iraqi war situations, several researchers studied issues associated with crisis management and recovery for businesses (Blake & Sinclair, 2003;
Henderson, 2003; Israeli & Reichel, 2003; Stafford, Yu, & Armoo, 2002), safety of Americans’ overseas travel (Lepp & Gibson, 2003), and tourists’ perceptions of safety and security (George, 2003). Topics not specifically reviewed in this and earlier sections tended to appear relatively infrequently and in divergent themes in the reviewed journals.