Business Commons^™

Medical Tourism In The Post-Covid Era: Cultural Differences In Attitude Formation, Helena F. Allman, Anton P. Fenik, Hilmi A. Atadil

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2024

Rising health care costs in the United States have been historically shown to increase the U.S. consumers’ interest in medical tourism. The number of uninsured people in the United States is still astronomically high compared to other advanced economies around the world. As a result, medical tourism was on the rise for decades prior to Covid. The pandemic introduced certain stressors and higher levels of risk associated with both the travel and medical treatment services. While the majority of the U.S. population now has some kind of Covid immunity, the long term mental effects of Covid stress in everyday decision …

Using Dark Triad Personality To Understand And Moderate Jay Customer Behavior In Hospitality, Scott M. Widmier, Prachi Gala, Iason Koufodontis

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2024

Jay Customers are customers who act in a thoughtless or abusive way, causing problems for the firm, its employees, and other customers. Currently, the only way to identify Jay Customers is by their actions when it is already too late to prevent the negative consequences. This research tested and confirmed the use of Dark Triad personality (Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and Psychopathy) to identify individuals prone to Jay Customer behavior prior to its manifestation. Dark Triad personalities have distinctive characteristics that can be used to identify them along with a growing body of research on prescriptive actions to dissuade their disruptive behaviors. …

Effects Of Uncertainty Avoidance On Film-Motivated Tourists' Perceptions Of Destination Image, Place Attachment, And Intentions, Patrick Tyson, Wei Wang

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2024

In an attempt to increase understanding of such film-motivated traveler bases, this study will apply self-congruence, film, and culture factors within a touristic background. This background, coming from a cross-cultural analysis between the Brazilian and Japanese episodes from the Netflix docuseries Street Food, will allow for exploration and analysis of the following research question: How does uncertainty avoidance affect the relationship between film-motivated tourists’ perceptions of destination image, place attachment, and travel intentions?

Study purposes include 1) examining mediation effects of place attachment in relationship between self-congruity theory and travel behavioral intentions and 2) evaluating moderation effects of film …

Service Robots Effect On Branding And Consumers' Intentions Through Online Reviews, Haeden Overby, Wei Wang Ph.D, Banu Elmadag Ph.D.

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2024

With an increase in technology, a number of consumers are having new interactions with technology they experience when staying in hotels. A social media content analysis was conducted of Google Reviews of a number of hotels with service robots deployed. Hotels from the United States and Japan were analyzed. Reviews were scraped using online software and analyzed. The first round was a sentiment analysis to see the perceptions of online reviews containing information about the service robots. The majority of online reviews featuring robots were positive, with an overwhelmingly positive response from online reviewers in the U.S. After the sentiment …

Cookies And Calamari: Squid Game’S “Dalgona” And Cutting Shapes From Its Impact On Korean Product Purchase And Travel Intentions, Wei Wang, Patrick Tyson, Haeden Overby

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2024

This study explores individuals’ perceptions and attitudes toward Korean popular (henceforth referenced as Kpop) culture. Additionally, this study also aims to assess the impact of Kpop culture on consumers’ Korean product purchase and travel behaviors. Self-construal theory and social identity theory – being applied at individual and collective levels, respectively – will be employed within a qualitative, semi-structured, and inductive approach, an arrangement based around the game of “Dalgona” as seen in the Squid Game Korean Drama (henceforth referenced as K-Dramas). Study data may lend itself to both expansion of theoretical understanding regarding the study model and progression of marketer …

The Economic Impact Of The Cruise Ship Industry On Destination Port Countries During Covid-19, Katherine Snowberger

Honors College Theses

The travel and tourism industry was the fastest-growing industry in 2019. With more discretionary income available, many people spent their time traveling and exploring new cultures. One major sector of the travel and tourism industry is the cruise industry. In this sector of the industry, the clientele pays a flat fee to cover room, food, travel, and entertainment, which allows them to explore new and exciting ports of call. These port destinations rely heavily on tourism income to support their communities and infrastructure. This economic study aims to show how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted destination port cities and how …

A Study Of The Social Media Perceptions And Guest Satisfaction Concerning Recent Changes Related To The Genie+ System In The Walt Disney World Theme Parks, Kylie N. Bennett

Honors College Theses

This study examines the social media perceptions and guest satisfaction rates concerning recent changes related to the introduction of the Genie+ system in the Walt Disney World theme parks. Social media has allowed the public to share these opinions about changes in the Walt Disney World theme parks, but it is not known how these opinions compare to the lived guest experience. It is said that with the introduction of a paid standby queue bypass system the Walt Disney Company is making that aspect of its parks less accessible than in the past (Austin, 2022). This study uses a mixed …

Do You Dare To Study Abroad? Examining Cross-Cultural Differences In The Role Of Covid-19 Post-Pandemic Stress On Study Abroad Intentions And Country Image Formation, Helena Allman, Hilmi A. Atadil, Harriette Bettis-Outland

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2023

The purpose of this study is to explore the underlying dimensions of Covid-19 stress to determine the extent to which Covid-19 stress has an effect on students’ intentions to participate in future study abroad programs. The underlying stress factors that this work examines include traumatic stress, contamination fears, fears about economic consequences and past Covid illness experience. The paper addresses the cross-cultural differences in these factors’ effects on studying abroad intentions among young individualistic versus collectivistic consumers. The goal of this study is to develop a deeper understanding of Covid related stress phenomena among global young consumer cohorts. The results …

Application Of Heritage Tourism Development Frameworks To Jenkins County, Georgia, Shelby R. Herrin

Honors College Theses

With the decline of traditional agriculture and extraction industries, many small towns in the Southeast US are facing challenges of economic decline and looking for alternative development trajectories. The city of Millen in Jenkins County, Georgia is one of such small towns. With the discovery of a large Civil War heritage resource, Millen’s administration became interested in developing the town’s tourism potential. However, the community possesses neither the resources nor knowledge to develop and promote this potential. In this project, the combination of Gunn’s functioning tourism system model as a conceptual framework and Jamal and Getz’s three-step collaborative community tourism …

The Effect Of Interpretive Theatre On Children In The Museum Setting, Douglas Stuart Miller

Legacy ETDs

This study consisted of research conducted at The Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM) and The Georgia Southern Museum (GSM). Research at SMM consisted of exploratory research involving an unobtrusive observation of interpretive theatre programs performed at that museum and the effect of interpretive theatre on museum visitors. Particular attention was paid to the influence of theatre on children as the sample population for continued research at GSM was children ages 8-12. Subjects for this study were selected at random from the entirety of the sample population visiting the museum during the times of observation. Data recorded at SMM was compiled, …