Hospitality Administration and Management Commons^™

Darden Restaurants: The Role Of College Education In The Hospitality Industry, Rick Cardenas, Elizabeth Yost

Rosen Research Review

Rick Cardenas' first job was waiting tables at his local Red Lobster restaurant. Now he is Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Darden Restaurants, which owns and operates more than 1,700 restaurants under brands including Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, and Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen. Here, he explains to Rosen College's Elizabeth Yost how his own career developed and discusses the importance of a college education in the hospitality industry.

Diamonds: A Hotel's Best Friend?, Michael Nalley, Jeong-Yeol Park, Diego Bufquin

Rosen Research Review

Independent rating systems are common in many industries but possibly not as important as they are in the hospitality industry, covering both restaurants (with their world renowned Michelin stars) and hotels. In the US, the leading rating organization is the AAA (American Automobile Association) with their Diamond rating scheme. Many studies have looked at the impact of the Diamond rating on the performance of a particular hotel, but this study by Rosen College of Hospitality Management researchers Dr. Michael Nalley, Dr. Jeong-Yeol Park and Dr. Diego Bufquin, takes a different perspective, looking at how a change in the Diamond rating …

How Drinking Vessels Influence Customer Taste Perceptions, Marissa Orlowski

Rosen Research Review

First impressions count and it takes just a fraction of a second for us to decide whether we like someone when we meet them for the first time. With a collaborator, Rosen College of Hospitality Management's Dr. Marissa Orlowski is looking at how similar perceptions can be made about products and what implications this has for the food and beverage sector. They have discovered that the kind of vessel in which drinks are served affects both people's taste perceptions and their willingness to pay.

Romantic Brand Love In The Luxury Hotel Sector, Juhee Kang

Rosen Research Review

When I fall in love…. it will be forever.' It's one of the best-known lines in the Great American Song Book, but romantic love is now an increasingly familiar concept in marketing. It's said that people can form a deep and meaningful emotional connection with their favorite brands, just as they can with a life partner. New research from Rosen College of Hospitality Management's Dr. Juhee Kang looks at what this means for luxury hotels and what they can do to stay in tune with modern consumers.

Do Loyalty Schemes Benefit Hotel Preferences?, Nan Hua, Wei Wei

Rosen Research Review

Loyalty schemes have been a significant development in many industries, including the highly competitive hotel industry. But do those schemes contribute real value by improving hotel performance, or are they just an expensive but outdated marketing tool? Dr. Nan Hua and Dr. Wei Wei from the Rosen College of Hospitality Management, University of Central Florida, seek to better understand this relationship.

The Breakers: How To Make It In Luxury Hospitality Management, Tricia Taylor, Danielle Orchard

Rosen Research Review

There is no doubt that from the outside, the Italian Renaissance-style resort The Breakers Palm Beach, looks luxurious and comfortable. Executive Vice President & General Manager Tricia Taylor gives us the inside scoop on what it means to manage such a unique hotel and why she still loves her role 24 years in. She explains to Rosen Colleges' Sr. Director for Advancement, Danielle Orchard, why she is looking to Rosen College for future star employees.

A New Model To Help Prevent Foodborne Disease, Sergio Alvarez

Rosen Research Review

Shellfish, such as oysters, are a well-known source of foodborne diseases. A bacterium called Vibrio vulnificus, commonly found in shellfish, can cause particularly severe illness. Unfortunately, regulations aimed at improving food safety also have the potential to damage the fragile economic status of small coastal communities that depend on oyster harvesting. Rosen College of Hospitality Management's Dr. Sergio Alvarez has led the development of a new bioeconomic model that has the potential to help improve food safety while minimizing economic harm.

Florida's Food Truck Industry: Tackling The Food Safety Challenges And Health Risks, Bendegul Okumus, Sevil Sonmez

Rosen Research Review

Street food is a popular part of daily life, with a vast variety of vendors and food trucks around the world. It is easily available and well-known foods contribute to the local economy. Despite these strengths, many cultures don't highly regard street food. In particular, it's often perceived as unhygienic compared to restaurant food. These concerns around standards are indeed upheld by research in some countries. Researchers Dr. Bendegul Okumus and UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management and Dr. Sevil Sonmez at UCF College of Business analyze the inspection challenges street food faces and review the gaps between food safety …

How Effective Are Virtual Reality Experiences As Destination Marketing Tools?, Alessandra Marasco, Piera Buonincontri, Mathilda Van Niekerk, Marissa Orlowski, Fevzi Okumus

Rosen Research Review

How did you decide where to go on your last holiday? Did you see a picture-perfect paradise promoted on your social media feed? Once upon a time, planning your perfect holiday was organized with a trip to the local travel agency. In recent years you are more likely to pick your destination based on the most attractive advertisements at the top of an online travel agency website. Dr. Mathilda van Niekerk, Dr. Marissa Orlowski and Dr. Fevzi Okumus from Rosen College of Hospitality Management, along with Allessandra Marasco and Dr. Piera Buonincontri from the National Research Council's Institute for research …

Holiday Research: How Academia Is Informing A Destination Marketing Organization, Misty Johantgen

Rosen Research Review

Destination marketing is a changing industry; the advent of the internet and smartphones has led to an explosion in the number of destination marketing companies looking to be the reason you visit somewhere. So how does one destination marketing organization (DMO) stand out from another? How much has the role of DMOs altered in recent years? Misty Johantgen, Chief Operating Officer of Experience Kissimmee, one of the largest DMOs in Florida, is here to tell us more.

The Role Of Hospitality Service Quality In Third Places For The Elderly, Denver E. Severt, Ji-Eun Lee

Rosen Research Review

As a result of the ageing baby-boomer generation and increasing average life expectancy, the active elderly is a growing population who enjoy their later lives. In order to support these individuals, it is essential to provide appropriate housing and services. In addition to the provision of these resources, it is also important that theses are of a high quality in order to adequately meet resident needs. Dr. Denver Severt and Dr. Ji-Eun Lee from Rosen College of Hospitality Management have explored the role of hospitality service quality in a Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) setting.

Shopping Around: Can Good Corporate Social Responsibility Lead To Positive Service Recoveries?, Heidi Albus, Hee Jung Ro

Rosen Research Review

We have all experience 'bad service,' whether it be at the hands of ill-tempered waiting staff or a poorly trained shot manager, and you wouldn't be alone if you had regaled the story to friends and claimed, 'they've lost me a a customer forever!' But have you even been won back? And if you were, what was it that persuaded you to return? Some of the latest research from Ms. Heidi Albus and Dr. Heejung Ro at Rosen College for Hospitality Management investigates whether knowledge of a company's corporate social responsibility might have a significant effect on 'service recovery.'

Out With The Old, In With The New: Education In The Hospitality Industry, Louis A. Lenglet, Sebastien Bazin

Rosen Research Review

What does it mean to be Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the largest hotel group in the world outside of the United States? How do you effectively lead a company that manages so many different brands and franchises? And how is it best to train new employees to be part of that shared vision? Accor is one of the largest hospitality companies in the world, with resorts, hotels and vacation properties across the globe. current CEO Sebastien Bazin is hoping to bring together the world of hospitality and education to build a bright and sustainable future for the company. Rosen …

Antecedents Of Tendency To Help The Victims Of Human Trafficking From The Perspective Of High-Contact Service Employees In The Lodging Industry, Melissa Farboudi Jahromi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

International Labor Organization estimated that 40.3 million people were victims of human trafficking in 2016. The high rate of human trafficking has drawn policymakers' attention to this issue and made them enforce anti-trafficking laws and regulations. However, their legal measures have not been based on solid empirical evidence due to the lack of academic research on human trafficking. The scant research available on human trafficking has been mainly descriptive or an investigation of sex trafficking cases to provide help to survivors. Thus, there is a need for research to explore human trafficking as a human rights issue through various perspectives …

Dispositional, Place Perceptions, And Imagination: The Interactive Network Of Authenticity, Ying Chao

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The purposes of this dissertation are threefold: to define and operationalize different types of authenticity, to test the interactive network of different types of authenticity, and to test the relationships between authenticity and tourist outcome variables including transformation, place attachment, and loyalty. In psychology, authenticity is typically conceptualized to be subject-based in nature, referring to a person's state of being true to oneself across contexts and against external influences. This type of authenticity has been termed "dispositional authenticity" and operationalized in this study in dimensions of authentic living, accepting external influence, and self-alienation. In tourism, authenticity is usually considered to …

The Precariat And The Pandemic: Assessing The Wellbeing Of Metro Orlando's Hospitality Workers During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Caroline Austin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

In 2018, the Orlando metro area was visited by 126.1 million tourists, a new record which the area has broken for its eighth year (Sanata 2019). As the number of visitors to the area continues to rise, so has the number of people employed by the hospitality industry which currently makes up the largest sector of the area's job market, employing 280,000 workers as of December 2019 (Bureau of Labor Statistics). Consistent growth in various insecure and unstable jobs of this kind have prompted the development of theory regarding the emergence of a new class known as the precariat. The …

A Holistic Approach To Asses The Determinants Of Travel-Tracking Mobile Application Acceptance, Marcos De Medeiros

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This thesis investigated factors affecting travelers' intention to adopt a new type of travel-focused mobile application named travel-tracking mobile applications (TTMA). In general, TTMAs enable travelers to act as travel-posters (i.e., those who use the application to record and post/share their travel routes and travel-related information and experiences), and/or travel-takers (i.e., those who use the application to access, read, and follow the travel routes and other travel-related information and experiences posted/shared by travel-posters). By adopting an extended version of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2) framework (Venkatesh et al., 2012), the first part of the …

The Effects Of Japanese Ryokan Attributes On Perceived Values And Purchase Intention, Ryuichi Karakawa

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The increasing demand for spa and hot spring resorts, particularly within the luxury markets, provides an opportunity for new types of accommodations. This study focused on Ryokan which is described as traditional Japanese hotels with hot springs. Despite the recent trend of expanding Japanese Ryokans in the global market, most extant research had only focused on perceptions of customers who have experienced Ryokans. Therefore, this study explored what attributes of Japanese Ryokans are important to potential customers and to what extent these attributes could enhance perceived values toward Japanese Ryokans. A total of 983 usable responses were collected through an …

The 2018 Muslim Pilgrimage To Mecca: Application Of Grunig’S Theory Of Excellence Two-Way Communication Efforts To Avoid A Crisis, Saud A. Alsulaiman, Terry L. Rentner

International Crisis and Risk Communication Conference

Every year, millions of Muslims converge in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) to perform the Hajj pilgrimage. So how does a government prepare for a potential crisis when hosting an event of this magnitude? A content analysis guided this study on crisis communication strategies taken by the Saudi government before, during, and after Hajj 2018 and how Saudi Arabia utilized the media to deliver proactive messages to ensure a successful Hajj season. The study found that the government created and built a positive image in the media through the use of effective management, preemptive messages, and multiple communication channels.

Towards Constructing A Comprehensive Framework Of Smart Destinations, Ekaterina Sorokina

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Smart initiatives are gaining popularity from the development of smart homes and smart communities to the emergence of smart cities all around the world. Smart technologies like AI-powered digital assistants are becoming more widespread within the tourism industry, giving rise to the concept of smart destinations. Despite the growing awareness, the theoretical and practical knowledge of smart destinations remains fragmented and mostly speculative. The primary objectives of this research study are: 1) to develop a comprehensive framework of smart destinations through multiple case studies of the emerging smart destinations and interviews with the industry stakeholders, and 2) to construct and …

Motivational Factors And Barriers Affecting Seniors' Decision To Relocate To A Senior Living Facility, Suja Chaulagain

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed to explore factors affecting seniors' intention to relocate to a senior living facility. More specifically, the purpose of this study was to examine the influence of push and pull motivational factors and perceived barriers on seniors' intention to relocate to a senior living facility (SLF). In addition, the mediating role of perceived barriers on the relationships between push motivational factors and intention to relocate and pull motivational factors and intention to relocate were explored. The data of the study was collected from 363 seniors. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis was conducted to test the study hypotheses. The …

A Comparison Of Self-Service Technologies (Ssts) In The U.S. Restaurant Industry: An Evaluation Of Consumer Perceived Value, Satisfaction, And Behavioral Intentions, Motaz Zaitouni

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Innovation in technology has been growing rapidly in recent years. Many restaurants have been utilizing different types of self-service technologies (SSTs) to enhance their operations and customer satisfaction. Despite, the rapid spread of SSTs in the restaurant industry, very limited empirical research has been conducted to evaluate the influence of SSTs type on customer dining experience. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation was to examine the SSTs values that influence restaurant customers' satisfaction and their decision to continue to reuse SSTs. More specifically, this study utilized the Theory of Consumption Values (TCV) to examine consumers' perception of the SST values …

Virtual Reality Technology And Customer Delight In Theme Parks: The Role Of Experience Quality, Chenge Jia

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the rapid development of Virtual Reality (VR) technology, theme park companies are eager to apply VR technology to their attractions. Operating as highly hedonic consumption businesses, theme parks need to make sure that they offer unique and memorable experiences to customers in order to enhance their competitive advantages. However, empirical data is needed to understand whether and how VR technology will enhance visitors' experiences, including the quality of their experience, customer delight, and customer loyalty. Therefore, this study aims to examine how VR influences visitor's theme park experience quality, customer delight, and customer loyalty. Based on an in-depth literature …

Destination Image And Tourist's Imagination: The Forgotten Component, Jalayer Khalilzadeh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The objectives of this dissertation was to 1) develop a comprehensive scale to measure visitors' imagination, 2) investigate the structural relationship between imagination and tourism destination image (TDI) components of cognitive, affective, and conative, 3) compare and contrast the various qualities of vividness, richness, saliency, control, and spatial between imagination and prospection, and 4) study the impact of different information sources on the evolving process of prospection to imagination. By conducting four different studies and seven data collection phases, the imagination scale was developed, validated, and utilized to test the proposed structural and differential hypotheses. In study 1, the phenomenology …

Comparing Self-Service Technologies And Human Interaction Services In The Hotel Industry, Soona Park

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Due to the development of technology, one of the major trends in the hospitality industry is service migration from human interaction services (HISs) to self-service technologies (SSTs). Therefore, it is important to examine customers service perceptions based on two different service provisions: SSTs and HISs. This study investigated similarities and differences between SST and HIS customer service perceptions based on several service quality dimensions, their effects on customer satisfaction and service loyalty in the hotel industry. Initially, this study conceptualized the service quality dimensions with six major dimensions (i.e., reliability, responsiveness, tangibles, competence, efficiency, and enjoyment) and hypothesized to have …

Business Closure In The North American Theme Park Industry: An Analysis Of Causes, Kelly Kaak

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Prior to this study, no analysis had focused on the 31% failure rate recorded among theme parks opened in North American between the years 1955 and 2009. This study's purpose was to identify the causes of closures among the 23 failed theme parks and inform the industry of what can be learned from these business failures. Business failure analysis typically stresses the impact of financial ratios and the accuracy of certain negative numbers to predict impending failure, but such studies avoid examining the underlying causes that lead to poor financial performance in the first place. To focus on this question, …

Delighted Or Outraged? Uncovering Key Drivers Of Exceedingly Positive And Negative Theme Park Guest Experience, Edwin Torres, Ady Milman, Soona Park

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Purpose

Despite multiple studies of customer delight in various service industries, limited research exists in the hedonically driven theme park context. The purpose of this paper is to explore the key drivers of customer delight and outrage in theme parks by analyzing TripAdvisor’s comments from visitors to the top 20 North American theme parks.

Design/methodology/approach

Following the analysis of thousands of extremely positive and negative comments using MAXQDA qualitative software, keywords drivers of delight and outrage were identified. The researchers applied both thematic and root cause in order to ascertain the sources leading to both positive and negative consumer feedback. …

Driving Towards Sustainability: A Case Study Of The Facilitators And Inhibitors Of Electrifying Drive Tourism Within The United States National Park System, Amanda Templeton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Drive tourism has proven to be a popular sub-sector of the tourism industry, given its ability to offer tourists a substantial amount of flexibility and sense of freedom in determining what destinations to explore. Few studies have examined the future of the drive tourism with consideration to changing technologies and growing awareness to the impact of carbon emissions and Green House Gasses. Research has recently begun to examine the ecological consequences of park transportation systems. Some of these problems can be seen within the United States National Park System (NPS), as various park units are experiencing problems related to infrastructure …

Scale Development To Measure The Co-Creation Experience, And Resulting Value And Behavioral Intentions In Museums, Exhibitions, And Installations, Elaine Mathis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to develop and test a scale that can measure the co-creation experience, resulting value, and behavioral intentions in MEI. The study addresses six objectives: (1) To propose a framework of co-creation, (2) To evaluate what constructs of co-creation are needed, (3) To analyze how and what value is created, (4) To evaluate how co-creation impacts behavioral intentions, (5) To evaluate how value impacts behavioral intentions, and (6) To create a model that tests the co-creation experience and resulting value and behavioral intentions in MEI. This dissertation employed a mixed-method approach. A qualitative study was …

Data Mining In Tourism Data Analysis: Inbound Visitors To Japan, Valeriya Shapoval, Morgan C. Wang, Tadayuki Hara, Hideo Shioya

Rosen Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The increasing power of technology puts new, advanced statistical tools at the disposal of researchers. This is one of the first research articles to use a data mining tool—namely, decision trees—to analyze the behavior of inbound tourists for the purpose of effective future destination marketing in Japan. The research results of approximately 4,000 observations show that the main motivation for visitors' future return is not driven by experiences had during their most current visit but rather by experiences anticipated in the future, such as visiting hot springs or immersing themselves in beautiful natural settings. The data mining method largely excludes …