Business Commons^™

Shaping Success For Mobile Applications Of Integrated Resorts, Krista Larsen

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

As smartphones have become indispensable in society, it has become critical for integrated resorts to develop mobile applications ("apps") that serve as a marketing tool and an enhancement in the customer's travel journey. This research reviews the features of existing mobile travel apps, in addition to areas of opportunity for future innovations regarding this platform. Based on this research, this study recommends best practices for an integrated resort's mobile app. The findings of this study can be leveraged as a resource when developing and maintaining mobile apps within the hospitality industry to provide an optimal guest experience throughout the entire …

Betting On Casinos As A Community Benefit: Analyzing Local News Coverage Of The Development Of Casino Gaming In Ohio, Jessalynn Strauss

International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking

This research examines news coverage of casino gaming in Ohio in the period 2008-2018. Ohio legalized gambling by popular vote in November 2009 and the state now has four casinos and 7 racinos with VLT gaming. This study will use a framing analysis to look at the way that news coverage portrays casinos with respect to social responsibility and their impact on the local community.

With the spread of gambling outside of traditional strongholds such as Las Vegas and Atlantic City, many have debated casinos’ benefit to communities, and some have criticized casinos’ impact on localities. This study will assess …

A Public Health-Based Approach To German Gaming Regulation, Knut Walter, Gerhard Buehringer

International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking

The current situation of the German gambling market can be characterized by an unrelated framework of different legal systems, different regulatory authorities and different control principles, and has led to (1) an increasing number of court decisions and information requests by European Commission questioning parts of that regulatory system, (2) public tolerance of illicit gambling, and consequently (3) a lack of consumer protection.

Taking RENO Model 1.0 and 2.0 seriously, a new and comprehensive regulatory framework based on common consumer protection standards for all types of gambling – land-based and online, state-owned and private operated – has been developed and …

Investigating How Restaurant Week's Price Promotion Affects Diners' Online Perceptions, Jian Zhao

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Price promotion is being widely employed in the global restaurant industry. This exploratory study uses online user-generated content (UGC) to investigate how price promotion affects diners’ perceptions. The study uses secondary data extracted from a Chinese third-party review website, Dianping.com. The data was separated into Restaurant Week’s price promotion group and non-price promotion group for comparison. Structured content analysis and further chi-square tests were used to analyze qualitative data, and a two-way MANOVA was applied to analyze quantitative data. Empirical evidence shows that food, service, and environment are the top three determinant attributes for full-service restaurants, and they are not …

Gendered Self-Presentation On Social Media: A Content Analysis Of Tweets From Unlv Men's And Women's Athletic Teams, Alexandra Nicole White

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

ABSTRACT

This thesis examines how sports teams vary by means of self-presentation on a social media

platform in relation to gender and sport. Building on Erving Goffman’s (1959) constructs of selfpresentation

and operationalizing impression management strategies, this study content analyzed

seven UNLV teams’ Tweets. The analysis spanned from August 2015 to October 2015. Every

Tweet posted, during these three months, from the seven different sporting teams was coded to

compare and contrast the men's teams accounts with the women’s teams accounts, as well as one

account that combines the men’s and women’s team on one Twitter page. The study found …

Understanding Brand Authenticity In Specialized Communities: An Interpretive Qualitative Study Of The Brit Iron Rebels Las Vegas Clan, Sullivan Charles

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Postmodern society is marked by a condition where traditional identity markers have degenerated in value. Without the spatial or temporal connection provided by traditional identity markers, individuals look to brands perceived to be authentic to aide in identity construction. Paradoxically, individualized identities need the interpretive support of other likeminded individuals in specialized communities to give legitimacy to constructed identities. These specialized communities often focus around a lifestyle or a brand. This research employed interpretive qualitative methodology to understand authenticity. Semistructured depth interviews were conducted with members of the Brit Iron Rebels Las Vegas Clan to understand the authenticity of Triumph …

The Role Of Self-Concept In Consumer Behavior, Marisa Toth

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Understanding the influences underlying consumption has become an increasingly important goal for marketers. This study examined the role of self-concept in consumer behavior, specifically product evaluation. The influences of various dimensions of the self-concept are examined in regard to four product dimensions: public luxury, public necessity, private luxury, and private necessity. Differences due to variations in individual levels of self-monitoring are also measured. Overall, results showed that the more conspicuous a product is (higher on luxury/public dimensions) the greater the relationship between evaluation and ideal self-images (ideal self and ideal social self) for both high and low self-monitors.

Walt Disney And The Propaganda Complex: Government Funded Animation And Hollywood Complicity During Wwii, Amanda Cunningham

Graduate Research Symposium (GCUA) (2010 - 2017)

Walt Disney’s work as an animator during World War II had a measurable impact on culture and in the development of government produced messages. It is important to examine this understudied area of Disney’s life and his studio’s efforts to produce wartime training and propaganda films during WWII. Government agencies, including the U.S. Treasury, contracted Disney to produce 32 animated shorts between 1941 and 1945 (Gabler, 2007).

Employing a semiotic approach of cinema, this study focuses on the cartoons The New Spirit (1942), Der Fuehrer’s Face (1943) and Education for Death: The Making of the Nazi (1943). While American wartime …

The Hotel Manager’S Perceived Conflict Of Providing For Hospitality And Security: Can The Two Exist In Harmony?, Silvano Cozzini

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The hospitality industry relies upon regular and repeat customers for its survival. No traveler or visitor will return to a hotel property where a bad incident occurred. Would a diner go back to any restaurant where they were sickened by their meal? Would a hotel guest return to any property where they were a victim of a crime? Bad experiences make us tell ourselves, “I will never go back there again!”

This same psychology holds true for criminals. At places where they have been deterred by a high security presence, it is unlikely that they would return there, either. A …

Communication Artifacts And Interaction Evaluation For Requirements Engineering, Miloslava Plachkinova

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This paper aims to answer an important question regarding the development of new information systems (IS): "What is the predominant factor for the selection of communication artifacts for requirements engineering (RE)?". Many researchers have focused on the RE and communication as separate disciplines, but little or no research addressed the RE communication issues. These problems are important because they often lead to misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the gathered requirements. We develop expectations about the RE communication process based on prior literature from both disciplines and we test them through several case studies. Our methodology consists of analysis of six case …

Social Media Strategy For The Hank Greenspun School Of Journalism And Media Studies, Irene Williams

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Within the past 10 years, communication online has evolved tremendously toward social media. This rapid change has been difficult for higher education institutions (HEI) to adapt to, leaving this important area underexplored. This strategic social media plan was developed to improve internal and external communication for the Hank Greenspun School of Journalism and Media Studies (JMS). By initiating social media platforms, relationships are cultivated with present and future students on Facebook and Twitter. This strategic social media plan develops and maintains Facebook and Twitter pages for JMS and interprets social media site visitation data. These data provide information on users, …

Self-Image Congruence With Communication Channels And Its Impact On Reward Program Loyalty, Orie Berezan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Loyalty programs have become products in and of themselves. They need to maintain member loyalty in order to survive. It is proposed that communication has a larger impact on program loyalty than previously thought. This study utilizes structural equation modeling (SEM) to evaluate the influence of communication typologies and dimensions on hotel reward program loyalty via self-image congruence, service quality, satisfaction, and trust. Moreover, this dissertation presents a communication identity model, which focuses on promoting hotel reward program loyalty via self-congruence with communication channels.

Newly discovered significant paths were found between: communication style and self-congruence with communication channels; self-congruence with …

The Marketing Effectiveness Of Hotel Facebook Pages: From Perspectives Of Customers And Messages, Xi Yu Leung

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In the hotel industry, social media marketing has become a new trend hoteliers are chasing and an increasing number of hotels are using social media to promote their business. However, the marketing effectiveness of social media is still a big challenge in both academic and business world. Since social media marketing is totally different from traditional marketing approaches, traditional marketing theories and practices may not be applicable to social media. Besides, very few studies have examined the effectiveness of social media marketing in the academic world.

Therefore, this study intended to provide an in-depth examination on the marketing effectiveness of …

Appearances Do Matter! What Libraries Can Learn From Clinton Kelly, Nancy E. Fawley

Library Faculty Publications

One could easily mistake Clinton Kelly’s closing keynote presentation at ACRL 2011 in Philadelphia last March as light fare. Kelly, cohost of TLC’s What Not To Wear, spoke enthusiastically about the importance of one’s appearance and the necessity of making an extra effort in the way individuals present themselves. His keynote address, and the fact that a fashion expert was a speaker at a conference for librarians, sparked debates on Twitter and in the blogosphere.

Do appearances matter? I say they do and add that this applies to buildings and objects, as well. Academic libraries, especially, could benefit from some …

From The Last Frontier To The New Cosmopolitan A History Of Casino Public Relations In Las Vegas, Jessalynn Strauss

Occasional Papers

This research chronicles the history of public relations by the gaming industry in Las Vegas. Reflecting larger trends in the field, public relations efforts by the casinos and hotels in this popular tourist destination have used a variety of communication tactics over time to promote themselves to potential Las Vegas tourists. Based on archival materials from over 30 casinos and gaming corporations, this paper identifies four ways in which public relations is practiced in the gaming industry and four macro-level trends in the evolution of casino public relations in Las Vegas.

Sex And Stereotyping In Sin City: A Content Analysis Of Las Vegas Magazine Advertisements, Michelle Irene Aikin

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

There have been numerous studies regarding gender stereotyping, the objectification of women, and how sex is used to sell products and services. In a city that is notorious for "what happens here, stays here," it is important to be aware of Las Vegas cultural marketing trends and how they compare with society-wide values. Using sex excessively in advertisements may have a negative impact on the Las Vegas community and the shaping of a negative image of the city. How much sex appeal is used and the levels of sexuality in Las Vegas print advertisements has not yet been researched. A …

Cultural Impact On Customer Satisfaction And Service Quality Evaluation In Hotels, Yeji Seo

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify how the cultural differences impact customer satisfaction and service quality evaluation in U.S. hotels.

Statement of Objective: The objective of this paper is threefold. The first objective is to define customer satisfaction and what customer satisfaction means to people from different cultural backgrounds. The second objective is to evaluate past research on satisfaction and to develop a taxonomy based on the existing literature to introduce how to measure customers’ satisfaction effectively in accordance with each culture. The third objective is to recommend what should be done by the hotel professionals in …

Chinese Culture And Casino Customer Service, Qing Han

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

With the tightened competitive conditions in the gaming industry, it is essential for casino management to focus on customer service. Chinese customers are very important for the Las Vegas gaming market. Even though the games offered by the casinos are the core value that Chinese customers seek when visiting a casino, a warm, comfortable and intimate service will enhance their gaming experience as well. Understanding important Chinese culture factors such as superstitions, gaming characteristics and communication styles can help casino employees enhance the quality of the service they are able to offer to Chinese customers, thereby increasing satisfaction and retention.

A Cultural Perspective On Motivation Factors Affecting Exhibition Participation, Young Ki Lee

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

With increasing global competitions, more opportunities transcending national boundaries may exist for the exhibition organizers and participants. This study offered an integrated approach to understanding how various motivation factors affect the participation in exhibition. The literature review included an introduction of push/pull motivation theories as one of the most representative motivation theories. The factor analysis of survey results supported the categorization of push/pull factors in exhibition industry. The paper concluded that the factor analysis procedures yielded the motivation factor dimensions with similar natures and four underlined motivation dimensions of exhibition participation were labeled. Furthermore, the cultural difference between Western and …

E-Mail Management Of Japanese Hotels In Comparison With South Korean Hotels, Kyoko Morikoshi

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

There has been little study done concerning the service quality of Japanese hotels toward foreign guests; especially e-mail management in English has not been analyzed in Japan before. Since e-mail inquiries in English from foreign guests could be the first step for Japanese hotels to provide good service to prospective guests, managing English e-mails efficiently is a key to attracting more foreign guests. Therefore this study examined the actual condition of e-mail management at Japanese hotels by sending an English inquiry to them. Korean hotels were also included because South Korea and Japan have similar linguistic and economic backgrounds. A …

Explore Guerrilla Marketing Potentials For Trade Show, Jie Chen

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This is an exploratory research paper trying to identify effective guerrilla marketing practices in solving tradeshow marketing challenges. Major problems faced by trade show marketers are analyzed in the beginning: limited marketing budget, ineffective marketing tools and dissatisfaction from exhibitors. The study introduced guerrilla marketing methods by both exploring the theory and identifying successful cases. At the end, specific guerrilla marketing guidelines were built for tradeshow marketers.

Examining The Value Of Word Of Mouth As A Marketing Tool For Poker Book, Jeffery J. Hwang

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In the spring of 2003, the poker world saw the launch of the World Poker Tour; that same May, an amateur poker player and online qualifier named Chris Moneymaker won the Main Event of the World Series of Poker and the $2.5 million first prize, demonstrating that virtually anyone can win at poker. The result of these two events was a “poker boom” that, by September 2005, had the two largest poker book publishers on the planet reporting ten-fold increases in sales. And yet, outside of their own company websites, most of the largest poker book publishers on the planet …

Selling Knowledge: A Sociological Analysis Of Attorney Advertisement In Las Vegas, Giselle Velasquez

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

I analyze how Las Vegas attorneys represent themselves, their associates and clients in televised law firm commercials. I use attorney commercials as a case to explore cultural beliefs in media representations. Using an inductive method, I analyze the textual, visual, and aural symbols that appear most frequently in television commercials to interpret how law firm advertisements convey themes of attorney expertise, knowledge, ethnic and gender stereotyping. I introduce this study with a historical evaluation of the rise of advertisement in the United States. I continue discussing how the media is an important realm of discourse that affects people's identity. Using …

Strategic Recovery Requires Leadership, Christine G. Springer

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Publications

As public managers work toward a successful recovery post-midyear elections, we all must deal with system-wide problems arising from the recession. This requires first recognizing that the crisis continues and must be addressed not just by increasing revenue but by fixing system-wide structural and operational issues.

To do so involves developing the skills required in a recovery, identifying the causes of the crisis so that future crises can be better managed and concentrating on the key areas of leadership expertise needed to effectively communicate and deliver better outcomes.

Unlv Magazine, Tony Allen, Shane Bevell, Donna Mcaleer, Ched Whitney, Cate Weeks

UNLV Magazine

No abstract provided.

Exploration Of Chinese Consumer Complaint Behavior In The Hospitality Industry, Meng Li

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This paper will examine all the factors that would influence Chinese consumer complaint decision-making and choice of complaint response, particularly in the hospitality setting. In addition, it will also explain the most prevalent Chinese cultural values and analyze the potential impact of these values on the Chinese consumer complaint behavior in the hospitality industry. In other words, this paper will examine how consumer complaint behavior would vary under the Chinese cultural influence within the hospitality industry. In the end, the paper will propose a conceptual model of Chinese consumer complaint behavior in the hospitality industry. Such a model is to …

Going Global: An Information Sourcebook For Small And Medium-Sized Businesses, J. Cory Tucker

Library Faculty Publications

Awe (Univ. New Mexico, Albuquerque) has produced a wonderful resource for entrepreneurs and business owners interested in expanding their companies to the international market.

The Burger King Revolution: How Las Vegas Bounced Back, 1983-1989, David G. Schwartz

Library Faculty Publications

Most who have considered Las Vegas history have concluded that not much happened in Las Vegas gaming between the openings of the original MGM Grand (1973) and Mirage (1989). In fact, several structural changes during the 1980s had already reversed a declining appeal. Responding to three crises—competition from Atlantic City, a national economic downturn, and the MGM Grand fire—Las Vegas casino operators began to draw more extensively on a middle-class mass market. Capitalizing on the “Burger King Revolution,” Strip casinos drew more gamblers who, on average, played less, and slot machines displaced table games as the industry’s leading revenue producer. …

Strategic Management Of Three Critical Levels Of Risk, Christine G. Springer

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Publications

The financial crisis that erupted in 2007 revealed a major gap in the management systems of government and business. For the most part, governments focused on revenue growth, productivity, cost control and quality. There were many interrelated factors involved with the failures but two in particular stand out in my mind: a failure to explicitly account for risk when formulating organizational strategies and a failure to monitor and manage the risks that they had identified and assumed. Organizations face many different types of risk but often they can be categorized into three types based upon their predictability, controllability and management. …

Strategic Management In A Networked World, Christine G. Springer

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Publications

The article provides guidelines to an effective approach of managing employees in the U.S. These include the ability to both detect a problem and to effectively respond to it. It is also considered important when strategies are adopted, where a collaborative action among network partners can be promoted. The author also stresses the importance of valuing and nurturing organizational learning and development.