Business Administration, Management, and Operations Commons^™

Cost Benefit Analysis Of Anesthesia Providers Within Gastroenterology Outpatient Practices, Jennifer Buffum Brown

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Anesthesia delivery in ambulatory and office-based settings has seen significant growth in the last 25 years. The advances in effective short-acting anesthetic drugs, combined with the rise in demand for minimally invasive surgery, allows for an increase in the number of surgical procedures to be achieved outside the hospital setting. Ambulatory anesthesia promotes patient health by reducing recovery times. It also contributes to sustainability by lowering costs otherwise associated with overnight hospital stays. Patient preferences for minimally invasive outpatient surgery, and faster recovery times have spurred an increased demand for business relationships between modern medical practices and anesthesia providers. Certified …

Addressing Challenges Faced By Public Organizations: The Central Role Of Agility At The Federal Level During The Covid-19 Crisis, Shuktika Chatterjee

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation investigates the role of organizational agility in public organizations (such as the United States Federal Agencies) and demonstrates how agility works in public institutions. This study explores how organizational agility within public institutions can lead to successes and prevent failures stemming from underutilized agility, identifies the societal demographics impacted by these outcomes, and offers recommendations for effectively implementing agility to enhance efficiency and societal progress. Agility in sum, is adaptability and proactiveness. If developed and practiced by public organizations, this process can avert prominent institutional failings that impede the dispersal of services and resources that would promote social …

Exploring Antecedents Of Generation Y And Z Customers’ Intention To Adopt Cryptocurrency Payments In The Context Of Hotels: A Sequential Mixed-Methods Study, Jehun Moon

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Cryptocurrency payments (CPs) are an innovative technology that can disrupt the hospitality industry. However, studies on the antecedents of CP adoption are scarce. To bridge this gap, this study targeted Gen Y and Z, the potential primary user groups, to explore the determinants of intention to adopt CPs. A mixed-methods approach was used to capture the depth and breadth of understanding of factors that impact Gen Y and Z customers’ CP adoption intentions. Study 1, a qualitative study, was utilized to acquire contextualized components. In parallel, Study 2 used a quantitative approach to validate the proposed research model, which combined …

Negative Customer Reviews And The Online Decision-Making Process: The Role Of Construal Fit, Minji Kim

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Consumers seek out online reviews to aid their decision-making, particularly when purchasing products and services online. Given their power to influence consumer behavior, online reviews have been extensively studied in various settings. While much research has focused on what determines the performance of online reviews, limited research has focused on why a particular review receives more or less attention from consumers. This study aims to fill this knowledge gap by exploring how consumers with different mindsets respond to online reviews framed at different levels of construal. Applying the construal fit principle, this research predicts that consumers more fluently process online …

Transformative Tourism Experience: Openness To Thriving, Solbi Lee

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Over the last two decades, there has been growing academic rhetoric regarding the concept of transformation. Furthermore, the discussion of transformative experiences extends to the tourism industry and literature, reflecting the changing tourists' profiles and demands that challenge Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) to deliver tourist experiences that incorporate self-reflection and personal transformation. Transformative tourism experiences (TTE) (Soulard et al., 2021) refer to extraordinary encounters and episodes that prompt high emotional reactions that bring an opportunity to explore the self and significant inner personal changes. Despite the emerging academic and practical attention on TTE, research empirically testing the antecedents and outcomes …

Payment Profiles: Using Payment Transaction Data To Identify And Characterize Gamblers, Kasra Ghaharian

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Payment providers in the gambling industry facilitate transactions, allowing customers to transfer money to and from wagering accounts. Payments transaction data is information that is captured from these transactions, including, for example, the type, amount, time, and location. How this data may be used for gambling harm minimization and prevention has garnered significant interest, particularly due to accelerated payments modernization in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. With this study, I explored the utility of payments transaction data to categorize subgroups of gamblers in order to identify individuals who may be at-risk of harm. I benchmarked six cluster analysis methods …

Salesperson-Customer Dyads In The Casino Gaming Industry: How Sales Competencies And Relationship Lifecycles Influence Customer Satisfaction And Account Profitability, Alicia Lechtenberger

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Developing extraordinary relationships between sales personnel and customers is essential to corporate success. To meet the increasing demands of customers within the hospitality industry, corporations must ensure they pair customers with salespeople who are highly competent, possessing refined and adaptable skill sets that directly increase customer satisfaction and account profitability. Corporations spend billions of dollars annually on hiring and training salespeople; yet, salespeople often quit or miss their quota targets. Considering this industry-wide business problem, the purpose of this dissertation study was to determine how sales competencies influence customer satisfaction and account profitability while taking into consideration the duration of …

The Influence Of Technostress On Hotel Guests, Samuel Lee

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The implementation of technology in the hospitality sector is rapidly growing. Although there are practical, economic, and experiential benefits of hospitality technology, the increased adoption of guest service technologies such as digital room keys, check-in kiosks, and service robots can also introduce friction points in a guest’s hotel experience. Technostress is any form of stress induced by the usage of technology and this study is among the first to apply this concept to consumer behavior. Based on the transactional model of stress and coping and social cognitive theory, this dissertation examined the effects of technostress on hotel guests, using a …

Purchase Intentions For Hospitality Products With Negative Online Reviews: The Joint Effects Of Rating Disadvantage, Attitude, And Sales Promotion, Wenjia Han

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Consumers engage with online reviews when making purchase decisions, especially for experience goods such as hospitality services. Negative online reviews (NOR) harm business revenue and hospitality operators try to minimize the consequence by responding to NOR. However, management responses are hard to implement and could generate adverse effects. This study suggests that the impact of NOR on product choice can be eradicated by launching an appropriate sales promotion. Based on prospect theory, choice theory, social judgment theory, and cognitive dissonance theory, this study examines how different proportions of NOR influence consumer purchase intention for two hospitality sectors – restaurant and …

Predicting And Mitigating Reactance Impact On Attitude And Behavioral Intention, Matthew Ryan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

At times messaging may be of an instructive nature that can be perceived as an attempt to threaten or limit an individual’s freedom. This freedom limitation can range from individual choice to physical requirements. How a message is framed, or positioned, is very important. In certain instances, even when the message has the best intentions, if framed incorrectly can have the opposite, or boomerang, effect on people. This state is known as psychological reactance. When invoked, consumers will act in a way that eliminates the threat of freedom to restore balance. Such a state can also lead to negative implications …

A Development Of A Game-Theoretic Artificially Intelligent Neural Network Revenue Management Forecasting Model, Fatemeh Binesh

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The aim of this dissertation is to create and test a risk induced game-theoretic price forecasting model. The models were tested with datasets from 3 Upper Midscale hotels in 3 locations (urban, interstate and suburb), one hotel from each location. The data was obtained from STR, a leading hospitality marketing company which consolidates all of the daily hotel data from hotels in the United States. Multiple error measures were used to compare the accuracy of models. Three LSTM models were proposed and tested; LSTM model 1 that relied on ADR to forecast ADR, LSTM model 2 that used ADR, supply, …

Factors Affecting Hotel Recommendation: Before The Covid-19 Pandemic And After The Reopening, Boran Kim

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

During the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous people lost their lives, and a lot of industries were affected. The hospitality industry was especially affected due to social distancing, travel restrictions, and safety issues. During that time, not only did customers' expectations change but their recommendation of hotels to friends and colleagues also changed. The current study used five factors (i.e., cleanliness, location, room, service, and value) to discover which factors were affecting hotel recommendation before the COVID-19 pandemic and after the reopening. This study used secondary data (online surveys) from one of the well-known integrated resorts located in the western United States. …

Examining Technology’S Impact On Hotel Operations: A Systematic Review Of Hospitality Research Literature, Xinru Chen

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In the hospitality industry, technology’s impact on hotel performance is a central topic since it is closely related to operators’ budget allocation and business decisions. However, former studies have devoted little attention to this issue and have exhibited mixed attitudes, which makes it more difficult for hotel operators to make their technology adoption decisions. To determine the scope of technology’s implication on operations, this study will conduct a systematic review and examine technology’s impact on hotel performance based on the empirical evidence given by scientific publications in the hospitality industry from the last 20 years. The data was obtained from …

An Assessment Of Hotel Guests’ Perceptions Of Preventive Safety Measures In The Era Of Covid-19, Un Hyeok Ko

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In the era of COVID-19, hospitality was one of the industries that was most severely impacted by the virus. Spread of the virus was rapid enough to force hotels to close properties worldwide, and hotels were required to adopt safety measures and protocols in order to re-open or remain open. New types of measures, some never seen before the pandemic, were created and implemented throughout the hotel industry.

The main purpose of this study is to assess guests' perception of preventive safety initiatives and measures in the era of COVID-19 and to determine their level of satisfaction with such measures. …

The Effect Of Perceived Justice And Organizational Embeddedness On Employee Morale And Voluntary Turnover Rate After Layoffs In The Hospitality Industry, Jungjoo Bae

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to examine the factors that reduce the detrimental impact of layoffs. This research found that damaged employee morale and increased turnover intention of survivors after layoffs can cause more adverse impact on companies where layoffs were conducted. Also, it was found that perceived justice and organizational embeddedness can reduce the possibility of having destructive outcomes after layoffs. Additionally, the moderating impact of organizational embeddedness on the effect of perceived justice on employee morale and turnover intention was researched. Data were gathered from junior and senior undergraduate students majoring in hospitality management with at least …

Measuring Quality Of Virtual Event: Scale Development And Validation, Sung-Eun Kim

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The unprecedented global pandemic caused by COVID-19 has led to a critical reconsideration of the way humans work and live. In turn, true paradigm shifts are arising across diverse industries based on remote and online communication. Undoubtedly, traditional in-person events are transforming into virtual events through more innovative platforms and safer experiences. The market for virtual events is considerably expanding and promising; thereby, the demand for research on the nature and dynamics of virtual events is increasingly growing. However, research on virtual events and virtual event quality (VEQual) is still in its infancy and has lagged behind, resulting in a …

Factors Influencing Golfers' Intention To Use A Direct Booking Website, Junghoon Lee

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

To find out golfers’ perceived value of a direct booking website, an extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT 2) model is adapted to test out golfers’ behavioral intention when they book a tee time via a golf course’s website. The influential factors are Performance Expectancy, Effort Expectancy, Social Influence, Facilitating conditions, Hedonic Motivation, and Price Saving Orientation that predicts golfers’ behavioral intention to use. A sample has chosen through the screening questions that the target sample, who are an adult at age 18 or older, have played golf at a public golf course over the last …

Gambling Behaviors Among Vip Hosts In Macao, Tiange Xu

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Many studies have shown that casino employees are at-risk gamblers, but limited research on this topic has been conducted in Asia. Given the unique gambling setting of Macao, it would be meaningful to investigate the gambling behaviors among VIP Hosts, who play an important role in the gaming market. Specifically, the present study examined the relationship between problem gambling, cognitive distortions, and potential risk and protective factors. The author used a snowball technique to recruit participants and an online survey to collect data. A total of 41 responses were included in the data analysis. The results showed that VIP Hosts …

Exploring The Airline Passengers’ Preferences Of Inflight Foods, Eun Min Hwang

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

To keep up with a rapidly expanding aviation industry, it is critical for airline marketers to incorporate most preferred service elements to enhance the passengers’ inflight experience. To attract the valued passengers, the current study focused on inflight foods and included the attributes that address the trends of healthy and environmentally sustainable foods. Usingconjoint value analysis, the study investigated the differences on participants’ preferences and importance of inflight food attributes with their demographic profiles and travel characteristics. The research found that health and taste attributes were found to be the greatest importance of inflight foods and suggested the optimal inflight …

An Examination Of The Role Of Online Reviews For Niche Restaurant Segments: Casino Buffet Restaurants, Tevfik Demirciftci

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation applied hygiene factor (two-factor theory) and rational choice theory to investigate the factors which influence satisfaction for iconic, niche casino buffet restaurants, determine if the factors that impact satisfaction also impact WTP in the same direction and with the same weight, and examine the relationship between those items mentioned in online reviews and WTP in a buffet setting. Two studies were conducted to discover the key attributes of the casino buffet restaurant. In the first study, a qualitative-text analysis-was made to discover satisfiers and dissatisfiers for casino buffet restaurants. In the second study, a quantitative analysis -conjoint analysis-was …

Shattering The Glass: Will Gen Z Bring Us Closer To Gender Equality In Us Hospitality Leadership?, Denise Holly Ramirez Molintas

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The continued underrepresentation of women in senior leadership positions has impaired the hospitality industry’s capacity to achieve the fifth UN Sustainable Development Goal of Gender Equality. Although the industry has initiated programs to establish gender parity, the innate gendering through traditional leadership prototypes and gender-role stratification requires investigation. Scholars have noted the limited focus on gender-aware issues in hospitality research. Further, as gender is a socialized construct, historical shifts in gender ideologies have enabled changes in gendering at the individual, interactional, and institutional dimensions of society. Grounded in gender as a social structure theory and role congruity theory, this dissertation …

How Consumers Assess Multiple Cues: The Role Of Dual Processing System On Hotel Booking Decisions, Eun Joo Kim

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

An online travel agency (OTA) is an important channel for hotels to generate new reservations. To make booking decisions, people collect and evaluate available information. Hotels try to provide effective information to persuade customers to book their hotel deals; however, not all information is manageable by the hotels. This research evaluates the effects of information on OTA websites with an approach based on the origins of the information. Depending on the origin, multiple cues can be categorized by two types, controllable and uncontrollable cues. A controllable cue is information that hotels can maintain, whereas an uncontrollable cue is not manageable …

Organizational Symbolism And Employee Immersion, A Mixed Methods Investigation Of Organizational Socialization Efficacy In The Hotel Industry, Jeffrey Michael Yedlin

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study delves into the theory of organizational socialization through a mixed methods exploratory explanatory design examining organizational symbolism and social capital to identify strategies to reduce new hire turnover in hospitality. Constructs within the study include role clarity, training, organizational and coworker support as well as future prospects. New literature was studied for developing theory. Seminal work on socialization by Van Maanen and Schein (1979), Feldman and March (1981), Jones (1986), and Taormina (1997), perceived organizational support from Eisenberger et al., (1986), self-efficacy from Bandura (1977), and organizational symbolism by Dandridge & Mitroff (1980) and Van Buskirk (1991) were …

Meal Duration: Implications For Restaurant Revenue Management, Dale F. Billings

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A comprehensive revenue management strategy addressing space, product, price and time, has been shown to increase profits within the hospitality sector. While the literature shows that the restaurant industry has frequently addressed space, product, and price when looking at financial strategy, the effect of the variable of time on revenue generation has not been adequately studied. Restaurants shy away from the practice of using time as a commodity, particularly regarding meal duration, due to fears of reducing customer satisfaction.

This project explores the use of time as a commodity in restaurant revenue management. In particular, it examines consumers’ feelings about …

Mental Accounting And Unplanned Purchases In Online Booking: The Role Of Discount, Impulse Buying, And Thinking Style, Esther L. Kim

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

To minimize the high cost of commissions of online travel agencies (OTA), the majority of hospitality operators provide member only exclusive rates to encourage consumers to book on their websites directly. However, the revenue cannot be maximized due to the amount of discount. This dissertation suggests that hospitality operators may maximize their profit with the adoption of surprise discount to increase consumers’ unplanned purchases. Applying the mental accounting principle, this dissertation examines how consumers respond to a surprise discount when they make unplanned purchases, such as purchasing add-on items online. This dissertation utilized three experiments in an online hotel booking …

The Relationship Between Motivation To Use Airbnb And Guests’ Repurchase Intention: Moderating Effect Of Consideration Set, Wen Jiang

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

With the rise of the peer-to-peer sharing economy, Airbnb has become the leading platform as an online marketplace that allows homeowners to contract short-term leases or rents to tourists. It has expanded rapidly around the globe. This study comprehensively reviews previous literature with respect to the marketing of Airbnb. The study then summarized and categorized 12 motivators linked as causative agents for guests choosing Airbnb. Using the push-pull theory, along with research on the consideration set, this study examines the relationships between Airbnb motivators and guests’ repurchase intention. This study further examines how the consideration set moderates these relationships.

Seventy-eight …

The Effect Of The Minimum Server Wage On Restaurant Guest Tipping Behavior And Perceptions, Jason Tang

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Restaurant server income is predominantly composed of tips received from guests and the minimum server wage received from restaurants. Grounded in equity theory, this dissertation investigated the effect of the minimum server wage, in combination with established antecedents of voluntary tipping, on tipping rate and examined guest perceptions of fairness of the minimum server wage and three prevalent tipping policies (voluntary tipping, automatic service charge, and service inclusive pricing). Two experiments were conducted, a 2 (minimum server wage) x 2 (service quality) experimental design, and a 2 (minimum server wage) x 3 (tipping policy) experimental design. The results revealed that …

Examining The Role Of Business Intelligence And Analytics In Hospitality Revenue Management, Anna I. Kharitonova

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Most hospitality revenue management forecasting systems were built prior to the business intelligence and analytics movement. Only recently these systems have been enhanced to offer contemporary business intelligence and analytics functionalities. In addition, revenue management professionals are receiving support from standalone, supplementary business intelligence and analytics platforms. The purpose of this dissertation was to produce a holistic review of and establish the role of business intelligence and analytics within hospitality revenue management. Data was collected from twenty-three interviews; all participants were employed by hospitality organizations in revenue management specific positions. Grounded theory methodology was utilized. The results show that nearly …

Using Design Science Research To Develop A Conceptual Solution For Improving Knowledge Sharing In A Virtual Workspace, Lata Koneru

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Enhancements in technology have resulted in significant changes to day-to-day operations of organizations in the present day. One especially noteworthy change is the alteration in the nature of teams from being co-located, with face-to-face interaction, to virtual, with the involvement of information and communication technologies (ICT) to facilitate communication. This change in team character has had a downstream impact on a key element of an organization’s competitive edge, namely knowledge.

Overall, there is consensus that knowledge is a crucial facet of the competitive edge of an organization. Consequently, knowledge management, knowledge sharing, and organizational learning are essential components of an …

Managing Data-Driven Change: A Model Of Unintended Deviation, Sang-Mun Ray Cho

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Data-driven change in hospitality gaming is desirable because of the opportunities to leverage untapped sources of rich and abundant marketing data. However, change has been difficult to implement as indicated by a lack of widespread adoption. Some have attributed these difficulties to cultural, structural, and other generic factors but these explanations fail to explain the root dynamics of data-driven change.

In this dissertation, it is theorized that data-driven change requires a particular form of social interaction, which are called analytical bonds (AB). The suggestion was that there is a sender of an analytic deliverable and a receiver that makes a …