Business Commons^™

Marketing Tourism And Hotel Management Schools In The Context Of Higher Education Globalization And Student Mobility Through Improved Curriculum And Industrial Training Offerings, Ayse Bas Collins, Aysegul Gunduz Songur, Seden Dogan

Journal of Global Education and Research

Recent research from international statistics indicate an important flow of student mobility all over the world, creating a need to provide comprehensive information regarding educational institutions involved in the process. This study examines and compares tourism and hotel management (THM) programs at different levels, including the nature of programs offered, their curriculum, and internship components. A particular focus was given to the industrial training requirement as a core component of THM programs. Results showed both similarities and differences worldwide within the framework of the institutions compared. The findings may help all stakeholders in the education systems, including professionals, educators, students, …

Decisions And How Doctors Make Them: Modeling Multilevel Decision-Making Within Diagnostic Medicine, Michelle S. Kaplan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Effective decision-making is critical and necessary for organizational success across a wide range of occupations, situations, and industries. However, decision making, by its nature, is not always a direct process of a single decision leading to a direct outcome. Rather, it can often become a multilevel process whereby one decision’s outcome leads to information that is used in subsequent larger or other types of decisions. The decision-making process then becomes progressively more complex and more difficult to navigate as these decisions compound within one another. Thus, decision-makers must find an appropriate way to approach such decisions. Understanding the multilevel nature …

Managing Incomplete Data In The Patient Discharge Summary To Support Correct Hospital Reimbursements, Fadi Naser Eddin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The patient discharge summary is a document that conveys the patient's story to other healthcare practitioners, external users, and, most importantly from a financial perspective, health insurers. A defect or incompleteness in the patient's discharge summary will result in delays in the collection process through denial of the entire or partial reimbursement claim or, in the best-case scenario, delay until the discharge summary issue is resolved. The purpose of this project is to address the issue of the incompleteness of discharge summary from the perspective of healthcare providers, with the goal of understanding, diagnosing, and intervening in the research problem. …

Understanding Nonprofit Boards: An Exploratory Study Of The Governance Practices Of Regional Nonprofits, Susan Ryan Goodman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Many researchers have catalogued best practices of board governance. Most of the existing research employed surveys to review compliance with these practices, and the results are highly quantitative as well as self-reported. This study used interviews of board members representing a cross-section of nonprofits to examine conformity with recommended governance best practices and procedures as well as to provide insight into how these practices have changed during their tenure.Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 nonprofit board members in the Tampa Bay area. Using the thematic coding approach proposed by Braun and Clark (2006), four themes emerged from the data: Recruiting, …

Fighting Mass Diffusion Of Fake News On Social Media, Abdallah Musmar

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Fake news has been considered one of the most challenging problems in the last few years. The effects of spreading fake news over social media platforms are widely observed across the globe as the depth and velocity of fake news reach far more than real news (Vosoughi et al., 2018). The plan for the following dissertation is to investigate the mass spread of fake news across social media and propose a framework to fight the spread of fake news by mixing preventive methods that could hinder the overall percentage of fake news sharing. We plan to create a study on …

Engagement And Meaningfulness As Determinants Of Employee Retention: A Longitudinal Case Study, Calvin Williams

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The lack of financial resources has long challenged government institutions to move employee wages toward the market rate average for hourly and salaried positions. This area of public employment, where motivation other than a pay increase is necessary due to constrained budgets, is not well studied or understood. The primary purpose of this longitudinal case study is to investigate factors that influence Administrative Service employees and increase their level of retention at the University of South Florida (USF), a state funded university. The objective of the case study was to better understand how enhanced psychological meaningfulness, and increased employee engagement …

Exploration Of Post-Merger Integration Meetings, Through A Qualitative Study Of Individuals’ Perceptions, Ruben Cintron

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In 2020, the United Sates mergers and acquisitions (M&As) had a total value of $1.2 trillion. Organizations engage in M&As for a variety of reasons, such as to gain economies of scale and scope, obtain technologies, enter new markets, or gain competitive advantage by eliminating competitors or combining forces. However, studies indicate that less than half achieve their stated strategic and financial goals. Two factors cited within the M&A literature that contribute to the failure rate are cultural clashes and post-merger integration activities. This three-paper dissertation explores the influence organizational cultures and post-merger integration activity (post-merger meetings) may have on …

Testing The Congruence Of Espousals And Enactments Predicting Team Innovation, Rylan M. Charlton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study employs a social identity perspective (Hogg, 2008) to test whether perceptions of both espoused and enacted values drive team innovation, and tests whether both their level and congruence determine their impact on innovation. This relationship is tested in a multilevel latent polynomial regression model (MLPM) framework (Zyphur, Zammuto, & Zhang, 2016). The study also leverages block variable procedures (e.g., Edwards & Cable, 2009) to model the combined effects of espoused and enacted values, and tests whether these combined effects mediate between leader behavior and team innovation. This represents the first test of Zohar and Hofmann’s (2012) proposition that …

Successful Leadership Through Rapid, Unplanned Change, Robert "Darin" Grimm

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The studies of leadership and leadership models are voluminous, as is the work onchange within organizations. While scores of information can be found on each of these topics, the combination of the two is less ubiquitous. The grouping of specific leadership models related to corporate changes, be it structural or operational, provides an opportunity for new knowledge. Notably, the literature is scant when the added variable of rapid unplanned change is included in the combination of leadership and change. This study sought to better understand the impact of specific leadership behaviors and the impact on an organization during rapid, unplanned …

Virtual Reality Marketing In Hospitality And Tourism, King-Yin Wong

University of South Florida (USF) M3 Publishing

In the information explosion era, consumers are now better informed about different products and services than ever. It becomes increasingly challenging for every marketer to cater to the needs of these “sophisticated” consumers, which is their top priority amid the fierce competition. Capitalizing on its novelty and experiential nature, virtual reality (VR) is one of the latest technologies shown to have been effective in attracting and engaging consumers, particularly in the tourism industry. A complete understanding of the VR technology and its strengths and weaknesses is conducive to a better assessment of the technological tool for marketers to determine the …

The Influence Of Intrinsic Motivational Forces On Consumers’ Product Purchase Intentions, Sumera Syed, Syed R. H. Shah, Fauziah S. Ahmad

Journal of Mediterranean Tourism Research

Food is perceived as the top most surviving need of humans since their existence. With the passage of time, this need has been further revolutionized with added requirements of safety and hygienic factors. Halal food having both of these factors, has gained popularity among both Muslims and non-Muslims consumers. Despite of ever increasing trend of Halal food consumption, the research to uncap this amazingly growing sector is still in its infancy stages. Interestingly, the role of intrinsic motivation in shaping up intention of the consumers for Halal food purchase is still not well explored. This study has addressed this untapped …

Sanitation Marketing In Uganda: The Impact Of Gender On Participation And Outcomes, Elizabeth Vicario

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Uganda aims to reach universal access to basic sanitation under Sustainable Development Goal #6, but achieving this target by 2030 would require doubling the annual rate of progress. Women are disproportionately affected by poor sanitation due to their health needs and risk of facing violence, but they have historically been excluded from sanitation planning. Low household demand and poor service delivery have stalled progress in Uganda. Market-based sanitation (MBS) is a novel method of developing a sanitation market through stimulating demand and supporting a competitive atmosphere for product and service providers. This research studies the sanitation marketing activities implemented by …

Driving Health Care Results With Authenticity, Kindness, And Vulnerability: A New Model Of Authentic Leadership, John D. Couris

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Current management scholars have defined authentic leadership as consisting of four dimensions: relational transparency, self-awareness, balanced processing, and internalized moral perspective. This research extends the concept of authentic leadership to include kindness and vulnerability. I created two scales to measure kindness and vulnerability within the context of leadership and used them to examine perceptions of authentic leadership and its impact on three organizational outcomes: trust in one’s leader, work engagement, and psychological safety. Using a two-group, pretest-posttest experimental design, 44 Tampa General Hospital managers were either selected to participate in a four-hour authentic leadership training that included instruction on kindness …

Informing Complexity: The Business Case For Managing Digital Twins Of Complex Process Facilities As A Valuable Asset, William Randell Mcnair

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Digital Twins of complex facilities, specifically 3D models created during their design, is a potentially valuable information asset. This three- article dissertation explores the business case for firms in the petrochemical process industry to manage throughout the facility lifecycle. A maturity model is provided to illustrate the stages of digital twin evolution and serves as a tool to help communicate each of the five levels of digital twin maturity achievable in various use cases. An industry analysis reviews existing literature and proposes a model to assess informing or insight value of digital twins from three perspectives. Next, an empirical …

Residential Curbside Recycle Context Analysis, Ntchanang Mpafe

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Curbside recycling as a preferred mode of residential and municipal sustainability goals seems to have an overwhelming acceptance and adoption in the US. About 69.8 million out of 97.3 million (72%) single-family households in the United States have access to curbside recycling services (State of Curbside Recycling Report, 2020). Collectively, the programs divert about nine million tons of recyclables from landfill disposal each year (Cottom, 2019).

For a design that started in the 1980s in the US, its rapid universal adoption seems to have precluded a concerted effort in examining the coproduced nature (Households: service receptors and Municipalities: service providers) …

The Theory Of Legitimacy-Based Reciprocity: Implementing A Hybrid Sales Control System, Jay J. Civitillo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study introduces the theory of Legitimacy-based Reciprocity to answer the research question identifying the barriers and enablers of implementing a hybrid sales control system. Legitimacy in terms of this research is proposed as:

• A power structure based on consent existing in an organization and that there were those who ultimately selected policy and those that had to agree to follow it.
• Subordinates had to be permitted to help craft the policy and saw value in its existence and enforcement through proof that it directly affected their sales results.
• Those in power were required to actively participate in the policy …

Thoughts On How New Zealand Could Progress As A More Regenerative Tourism Host, Stephen Bradley

Journal of Sustainability and Resilience

New Zealand has a chance to reset the way we view and manage tourism. We must take this chance to make some changes that will ensure that we have a clean green country to promote as a high quality tourism destination in the future. This perspective advocates that measures such as a high visitor levy, educating tourists and better management of the way tourists travel around the country, can lead to achieving more sustainable tourism industry.

Food Producers And Pandemics: A Mystery Shopping Analysis, Francesc Fusté-Forné

Journal of Sustainability and Resilience

Recent research has widely analysed the significance of food in tourism. Departing from the understanding of ‘cheese’ as part of the food tourism system of a destination, this paper aims to analyse cheese factory tours as a tourism service provided by food producers. A mystery shopping approach is used to study the 75 cheese producers under the Manchego quality cheese. Results show the response behaviour of Spanish Manchego cheese producers to an email sent by a ‘tourist’ who asks for a visit during pandemic times. As a segment of food tourism, cheese tourism is gathering a growing attention by academics …

The Most Important Thing, The People!, Marie Haley

Journal of Sustainability and Resilience

This paper looks at indigenous concepts from New Zealand Maori and American Indians that offer philosophy for long term resilience and human-centred decision making. For true resilience, individuals, businesses and governments need to be adaptable, decisive and make long term changes. Operational changes need to come from a change of mindset and cannot return to old systems. Covid-19 has highlighted placing humans at the centre of decision making. This paper looks at the case study of The Seventh Generation Tours, in Akaroa New Zealand and the indigenous concepts of turangawaewae, knowing our connection to place and environment, manaakitanga, hospitality and …

A Future Of Tourism Industry: Conscious Travel, Destination Recovery And Regenerative Tourism, Asif Hussain

Journal of Sustainability and Resilience

The tourism industry is a complex network of millions of suppliers and consumers who trade experiences and services. The traditional tourism model revolves around increasing the number of visitors to ensure economic return. The conventional tourism models often ignore the real cost of the travel industry’s health and the cost per tourist. Covid-19 has shown us the extent to which the travel industry can be affected. The tourism and hospitality industries is the worst affected industries globally and the continuous waves of the virus, and new variants, are forcing governments to impose strict lockdowns. Misinformation and disinformation are making it …

Digital Marketing In Hospitality And Tourism, Shankar R

University of South Florida (USF) M3 Publishing

In the present world, the service providers are in a dire need to address and customize, and gratify customer needs based on their experiences, preferences, interests, and behavior. There comes the rescue, the digital marketing that has been evolved tremendously over the past couple of years amidst the pandemic. Though the presence was sensed long back to the start of the decade, its imperativeness has become inevitable after 2015. In India and across the globe the people are finding ways to stay handy, having all their needs fulfilled at their doorsteps. There comes digital marketing. In the name of …

Tourism And Life Quality Perceptions Of Local People: A Comparative Research In Thermal Tourism Destinations, Ahmet Cetin, Esra Katircioglu, Mehmet Boyraz, Hülya Mutlu, Hasan Huseyin Soybali

Journal of Mediterranean Tourism Research

The purpose of the research is to reveal locals’ perceptions and attitudes toward tourism development in thermal tourism destinations, as well as to determine whether these perceptions and attitudes differ depending on the socio-demographic characteristics of the participants. Accordingly, seven hypotheses were constructed. The population of the research is formed by residents living in thermal tourism cities in the North Aegean Region. The study was designed as quantitative, and the survey method was used as the data collection tool. Using the convenience sampling method, 827 questionnaires in total were collected from locals living in Afyonkarahisar, Denizli, and Kütahya between the …

Government Response To Covid-19 And Gender Discrepancy: Tour Operator Perspective From New Zealand, Marie Haley, Asif Hussain

Journal of Sustainability and Resilience

The New Zealand government closed the international borders for the first time in history to pursuit an elimination strategy to COVID-19. This has had a severe impact upon tour operators who have been excluded from a free and fair market, to protect the broader economic and public health systems. This paper argues that the government response needs a focus at the whanau and community level, with a targeted focus on women empowerment in the communities that are dependent upon international tourism. The government should pursue an approach of engagement with systems to facilitate community lead COVID-19 recovery. Thus, allowing the …

Building Destination Tourism Alliances In The Central-Western Region Of Mexico For The Recovery Of Post-Covid-19 Tourism, Silvia María López Ruiz

Journal of Sustainability and Resilience

This study focuses on knowing the joint work between Mexico’s tourist destinations and the private sector, promoting proximity tourism for the recovery of tourism after the Covid-19 pandemic, through the creation of the “Central West Pact for Tourism” in Mexico. For the qualitative empirical analysis based on a case study, it is based on secondary data and an in-depth interview conducted virtually with two pioneering leaders of this pact and responsible for tourism management in the state of Zacatecas, Mexico. In addition, a qualitative content analysis of the project’s official website (Viaja En Corto – Descubre El Centro de …

Futurizing Gastronomic Experiences In Natural Environments, Francesc Fusté-Forné

Journal of Sustainability and Resilience

The current pandemic accentuated the need for a more responsible tourism system, where local food production and consumption become a cornerstone of sustainable tourism futures. Experiences embedded in natural environments are neither new nor recent, but the pandemic urged tourism stakeholders to look at nature again as a source of inspiration for tourism regeneration. The research analyses the configuration of gastronomic experiences in protected areas through the philosophy of a gourmet restaurant located in a volcanic setting in Catalonia, north-eastern Spain.

From Hurricanes To Pandemics: Community-Based Transformation And Destination Resilience In Utuado, Puerto Rico, Patrick J. Holladay, Pablo Méndez-Lázaro, Katja Brundiers

Journal of Sustainability and Resilience

Community-based tourism that is both sustainable and resilient lends strength to the community-based tourism system. Local mobilization of resources, cohesiveness, coordination, opportunities for change, healthy social and natural capital, economic diversification, strong leadership, and management that embraces creativity all build resilience. An example from Utuado, Puerto Rico is presented that illustrates these concepts with conceptual parallel of Hurricane Maria’s devastating impact to that of COVID-19. Post-coronavirus tourism should support local communities that could be resilient, creative, adaptive and transformative while it protects and provides long-term benefits to local communities and people.

Strengthening The Entrepreneurial Support Community, Andrew J. Hafer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study seeks to discover ways of improving the impact and effectiveness of entrepreneurial support organizations (ESOs) in the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem of Tampa Bay, Florida. First, the study establishes a comprehensive catalog (called the “Superset”) of potential support programs that might be offered by ESOs and consumed by entrepreneurs. Through empirical data collection, the programs in the Superset are ranked by entrepreneurs and ESO leaders according to their opinion of perceived value and importance for gaining the competency in said program. The rankings allow a mapping of the regional ecosystem to identify gaps, inefficiencies, and improvement opportunities.

The study …

Public Budgeting As Moral Dilemma, Ben Wroblewski

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Government budget managers are responsible for the proper stewardship of public funds and facilitating the business transactions necessary to meet the public’s needs. Sometimes, during these decisions, managers can experience pressure to make an unethical decision. A better understanding of this issue can help organizations prevent misallocation of funds and adverse effects within the community. The problem is that the general pressure model lacks a framework to explain the decision-making process. Moral utility theory can provide insight into how people weigh or score choices with ethical considerations. This study found that government budget managers included their self-interests when experiencing tension …

Hotel And Guest Room Technology, Betsy B. Stringam, John H. Gerdes

University of South Florida (USF) M3 Publishing

Hotels are utilizing a variety of technologies in the guest room and throughout the hotel. Artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), cloud computing, internet of things (IoT), robots, cobots (collaborative robots), and chatbots are changing the service experience and hotel operations. Technology is redefining how we interact with the guest at all touchpoints, and how we manage employees and processes in hotel operations. Hotel and guestroom technologies provide increased management tools and data, to predict reservation demand, guest needs, and even when equipment might fail. While hotel technologies are increasingly automated, the use of technology is balanced …

Contributions Of Information And Communication Technologies To Cultural Tourism Experiences: Toward A Smart Destination, Alexandra Georgescu Paquin, Ainhoa C. Risco

University of South Florida (USF) M3 Publishing

Cultural tourism is a growing sector in which technologies play an important role. Location-based technology, or augmented, virtual and mixed reality, amongst many others, open up new possibilities for managers and at the same time enhance cultural tourism experience in all its stages. In this context, cities, and destinations in particular, need to innovate in order to assure a sustainable and competitive offer that benefits to both tourists and residents by facilitating their daily life through smart initiatives. The purpose of this conceptual chapter is to analyze how the creation of cultural tourism experience with information and communication technologies (ICTs) …