New paper accepted "Consumer behaviour in tourism: Key concepts, influences and opportunities"

Today I received the final acceptance decision of a review paper entitled "Consumer behaviour in tourism: Key concepts, influences and opportunities". The paper is co-authored by Scott Cohen (University of Surrey, UK) and Girish Prayag (University of Canterbury, NZ) and has been accepted for publication in Current Issues in Tourism. You can download the word version of the accepted paper here

This is the abstract:

Although consumer behaviour is one of the most researched areas in the field of tourism, few extensive reviews of the body of knowledge in this area exist. This review article examines what we argue are the key concepts, external influences and opportune research contexts in contemporary tourism consumer behaviour research. Using a narrative review, we examine the consumer behaviour literature published in three major tourism journals from 2000 to 2012. Of 519 articles identified and reviewed, 191 are included in this article. We examine the development of and scope for future research on nine key concepts, including decision making, values, motivations, self-concept and personality, expectations, attitudes, perceptions satisfaction, trust and loyalty. We then examine three important external influences on tourism behaviour, technology, Generation Y and the rise in concern over ethical consumption. Lastly, we identify and discuss five research contexts that represent major areas for future scholarship: group and joint decision making, under-researched segments, cross-cultural issues in emerging markets, emotions and consumer misbehaviour. Our examination of key research gaps is concluded by arguing that the hedonic and affective aspects of consumer behaviour research in tourism must be brought to bear on the wider consumer behaviour and marketing literature.

So, if you are doing research on any of the topics covered (in Purple), you will find this paper of interest to your research.

Celebrating PhD research @ the School of Tourism

Today 18 of the School of Tourism's PhD students presented their PhD research to the BU community in the form of PhD Interactive Poster Presentations. Each PhD student had to prepare a poster, which was then displayed in the room. Each student presented their research in about 8 minutes, after which there was time for questions. Presentations were scheduled based on who the first supervisor is. The event started with Dimitrios Buhalis students, and surprise surprise, most of the research focuses around technology. I co-supervise three of the five students (Ivana, Nicolas and John):

• Zornitza  YOVCHEVA - Information system design of Smartphone augmented reality for tourism
• Ivana  RIHOVA - Consumers as producers: customer-to-customer co-creation in the context of festival experiences
• Nicolas  GREGORI Y RIBES - Technology and social media enabled service development and design
• Barbara  NEUHOFER - Technology enhanced tourist experience 
• John FOTIS - The impact of social media on consumer behaviour; focus on holiday travel

A great set of presentations, showing the cutting edge work undertaken by PhD students in the area of experience and technology in tourism. 

The next group involved Alan Fyall's and Lorraine Brown's students:

• Gayathri KANAGASAPATHY - The heritage experience, a visitor perspective: a comparative study of heritage destinations in Malaysia
• Gde Indra  BHASKARA - The local community as a stakeholder group and its participation in UNESCO’s World Heritage Nomination process: Jatiluwih Rice Fields, Bali, Indonesia
• Emma KAVANAGH - A narrative enquiry into the experience of maltreatment in high performance sport
• Sean BEER -  Human perceptions of the authenticity of food 

Another great set of presentations, raising interesting discussions about the notion of 'maltreatment' and 'authenticity', and the challenges that emerge from researching such subjective concepts.

The 4 students presenting their PhD research in the last session before lunch were supervised by Janet Dickinson and Adam Blake.

• Andrew HARES - Tourist understanding of and engagement with the climate change impacts of holiday
• Julia HIBBERT - Tourism travel and identity
• Jan HUTCHINGS - ‘In the Swim‘ – an ethnography on Masters swimming
• Stephen CALVER - The influence of mass media on countryside leisure visit behaviour compared

After lunch, there was a fourth and final session, where students supervised by Barry Richards, Heather Hartwell, Ian Jones and Roger Vaughan presented their PhD research. Amanda is also one of my PhD students. I could not stay due to having my Consumer Experience & Behaviour exam in the afternoon.

• Gregory KAPUSCINSKI - Tourism, terrorism, political instability and the media
• Joanna HAWKES - ‘My Bones Won’t Break Me’: an auto-ethnographical exploration of premenopausal osteoporosis in a physically active female‘
• Pamela WATSON - Grab Your Fork’: a netnography of a foodie blog and its community
• Stacy WALL - Synergies in public health and tourism; an organisational ethnography
• Amanda WILDING - The diffusion and adoption of sport psychology by track and field coaches

All in all a great opportunity to show to the BU community (and the world via this blog) the excellent PhD research undertaken at the School of Tourism.

[pictures courtesy of Soultana Symeonidou]

New paper published on Event Sponsorship

I have just had a new paper published in the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. This paper was based on Arjun Bahl Masters dissertation that I supervised as part of his MSc Tourism and Events @ BU (this Master no longer runs). You can access the paper here (subscription required)

Purpose – This paper aims to examine event sponsorship decision making by the Indian drinks industry, comparing the non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks sectors.

Design/methodology/approach – Data regarding event sponsorship activity, perceptions of event sponsorship, motives to sponsor, form of investment and structure of sponsorship was obtained from a sample of 61 drinks producers in India through a questionnaire. Mann-Whitney and logistic regression were employed to compare the alcoholic and the non-alcoholic sectors.

Findings – The results suggest that the alcohol and non-alcohol drinks sectors sponsored a similar level of events, but in investment volume terms, sponsorship from the non-alcoholic sector is far greater than that of the alcoholic sector. While the two sectors are similar in many ways, the emphasis placed on certain motives for sponsoring events was different, with alcoholic drinks businesses placing greater importance on reaching niche audiences and increasing media coverage than non-alcoholic ones.

Research limitations/implications – A limited number of areas of the sponsorship decision-making were covered, yet the study provides insights into the decision making of one of the key sponsoring industries: the drinks industry.

Practical implications – Securing sponsorship is becoming more difficult and complex. By understanding how sponsors make decisions, including potential variations between companies within an industry, event organisers will be in a better position to tailor sponsorship proposals, enhancing the likelihood of obtaining the desired sponsorship contracts.

Originality/value – Most sponsor decision-making research focuses on how sponsorship decisions can be improved so that they work better for the sponsor. This paper, in contrast, emphasises that by understanding how clients make decisions (i.e. sponsors), sellers (i.e. the sponsored) will be in a better position to win over competition and secure the desired sponsorship deals.

PhD Studentship - The John Kent Institute

Today Bournemouth University is launching the John Kent Institute in Tourism (JKIT) in a function in London. The John Kent Institute in Tourism was established in November 2009 through a gift made to the University by one of the world's leading tourism entrepreneurs, John Kent. This new BU-based Institute will fund a considerable number of PhD studentships in tourism research, starting with eleven PhDs over the next four years. The School of Services Management is respected globally as a centre of excellence for tourism study and research; it boasts the largest cohort of postgraduate tourism students in the UK and is home to the International Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Research (ICTHR), one of the leading research centres of its kind in the world. The new Institute will complement the work of this Centre by attracting high-calibre PhD students to BU.

In 2010, the JKIT is awarding four studentships from 11 research areas. I am involved in the supervision of one of the areas as part of the supervisory team for the project entitled Consumers as producers: the dimensions of consumer-to-consumer co-creation in the event experience. A more detailed description of the project is shown below.

If you think you have (or know someone who has):

• outstanding qualities and be motivated to complete a PhD in 3 years
• an honours degree at Upper Second Class (2.1) and/or an appropriate Masters degree
• an IELTS (Academic) score of 6.5 minimum

and, of course, if you are enthusiastic about this research idea, I strongly encourage you (or someone you know) to apply to this studentship.

The application deadline for all studentships is 30 April 2010. For further information go to the John Kent Institute in Tourism page

Miguel

Project Description

Consumers as producers: the dimensions of consumer-to-consumer co-creation in the event experience.

Over the past ten years, many authors have emphasised that western societies have moved on from the 'service economy' to the 'experience economy'. The experience concept emphasises the importance of emotions and the meanings associated with these emotions. The emphasis has, thus, shifted from the technical performance of what is produced to the individual and notably the emotions and personal transformation that result from experiences. Despite the emergence of the 'experience economy', research within consumer experiences is still in its infancy.

From a marketing point of view, the design of products that encapsulate the features of an experience has been hampered by the limited conceptual understanding of what leads to a good experience. The general contention is that experiences result from an individual's interaction with stimuli, which can be divided in to three: the setting, the staff and other participants. While research from an experience point of view is scarce in relation to these three categories, the first two types of stimuli have been the focus of past research through the concept of service quality. The third category has been much less researched, despite its critical importance in the experience of certain product categories such as events and festivals.

Unlike many other products, events are consumed by groups of people who come together to celebrate, honour, discuss, sell, teach about, encourage, observe, or influence human endeavours. The 'social gathering' nature of events means that the interaction between event participants takes on a critical role in shaping the event experience. This interaction between participants implies that, unlike other product categories, the event experience results from both egoistic (the attendee as a consumer) and altruistic (the attendee as producer) behaviours. The recognition that attendees contribute to the construction of the experience leads to the concept of experience co-creation, which is explored in this research. Despite this importance, few studies have been carried out with the specific aim of looking at customer-to-customer interaction, as opposed to the co-creation of the experience with the business itself. Developed from a marketing perspective, this study will employ concepts of consumer psychology and product management to develop a model of co-creation in the event experience. A better understanding of the principles behind co-creation would greatly help experience marketers in planning for better experiences through influencing the co-creation process.

ESRC Bursary - The STORMING Initiative

The increasing importance and profile of sport tourism as a valuable field of research has been recognised by the Economic and Social Research Council (ERSC) in the United Kingdom, with the awarding of grant funding for a major international sport tourism project entitled ‘The STORMING Initiative’ - The Sport Tourism Opportunities for Research, Mobility and International Networking Group. The project, coordinated by Richard Shipway, a leading researcher in the field of sport tourism from Bournemouth University, is offering fifteen travel and conference bursaries for UK-based early career researchers to each attend one of three international sport tourism networking events. I have been awarded one of such bursaries and will be heading off down under to attend CAUTHE2010, the annual conference of the Council for Australian University Tourism and Hospitality Education. The conference takes place in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, between the 8th and 11th February. By attending the conference I hope to further develop research opportunities across existing and emerging international sport tourism networks with a view to contribute to further develop sport tourism research.

My research project is entitled “A logistic regression model for analyzing the determinants of golf tourists’ satisfaction”. Tourist satisfaction is a part of tourist behaviour that impacts on the competitiveness of golf tourism destinations and includes loyalty, word of mouth and complaint behaviour. The general contention is that satisfaction is a necessary condition for loyalty and positive word of mouth, and to avoid tourist complaints. Therefore, golf tourism destinations need to pay particular attention to not only how satisfied golf tourists are but also what factors determine their satisfaction. This research aims to contribute to the growing body of knowledge in this field by examining golf tourists’ satisfaction. This aim will be met through achieving three objectives: (1) to investigate the determinants of golf tourists’ satisfaction; (2) to critically evaluate the use of logistic regression in the context of golf tourists’ satisfaction; and (3) to examine the extent to which country of origin influences golf tourists’ satisfaction. A survey of golf tourists visiting Lisbon (Portugal) is used as a basis for achieving the objectives of this research.

The "Bournemouth Matrix"

The new academic year is under way, in fact we are already half way through the first term! This has been a pretty hectic term and I cannot complaint of lack of work... I am unit tutor for three undergraduate units:

• Leisure Innovation (Year one; BA (Hons) Leisure Marketing)
• Event Innovation (Year one; BA (Hons) Events Management)
• Consumer Experience & Behaviour (Year two; BA (Hons) Events Management)

I am also the leader for the Events Principles and Practice unit for the MSc in Events Management.

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These four units account for 340 undergraduate students and 40 Masters students! Fair enough, I am noyt teaching them alone - that would be impossible. The Event/Leisure Innovation units are co-taught with Pearl Morrison and the EPP unit with Caroline Jackson and Debbie Sadd.

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The content of the units is pretty much the same as in previous years, however I had to create something new for the LI/EI units. As I have reported in previous entries, in these units students have to develop a new leisure product/event for a real organisation. As part of the process, students need to examine the organisation’s product portfolio. One of the most methods employed to analyse an organisation’s product portfolio is the Boston Matrix. The focus of the Boston Matrix is on the relationship between the product and its market. Yet, sometimes it is not possible to clearly define the market for certain products. Recognising some weaknesses in the Boston Matrix, notably the fact that other variables than market share and market growth may be important means of analysing product portfolios, the General Electric (GE) matrix was developed. This matrix analyses each product based on market attractiveness (a measure of industry attractiveness) and business position (a measure of competitive position).

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The currently existing product planning matrices were formulated for business with clearly identifiable business units (SBUs). However, some businesses/organisations might not contain a range of clearly identifiable SBUs. In many cases, one businesses contains only one SBU – the business itself. Yet, the product offered by that business could be made up of different sub-products, that together contribute to the organisation’s competitiveness.

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One category where one SBU might consist of a number of products is service-based experiences. Experiential products are different from other types of products in that for a single price the person consumes a range of products (or sub-experiences). For example, visitor attractions are made up of a number of product propositions. These could include one core product (entertainment) and two supporting products (food and retail opportunities). The entertainment product, in turn, is usually made up of several components. If Farmer Palmers, a farm themed attraction for children under 8, is used as an example, its entertainment consists of pedal tractors, milking the cow, forest walk and straw mountain (just to name a few). In a similar vein, a fitness centre is made up of, for example, three products: Gym (core product), Spa/Beauty Centre and Café (Supporting products). The Gym, in turn is made up of several components, including group classes, weights and cardio fitness. Some of these components could even be further divided. For example, the cardio fitness component consist of different sub-components, such as treadmills, exercise bikes and rowing machines.

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This indicates that often:

• leisure products consist of several components which are consumed at a single price. These individual components do not generate income independently of others (at least objectively) given the pricing structure. Together, they contribute to generate income through the single price charged for the consumption of the core product. Yet, existing matrices focus on a clearly identify business unit, capable of generating income independently of other products. They have not been designed to perform product analyses when it is not possible to establish revenues or units sold.
• no information is available as to the size of the market (entire demand or supply) for each of these products/components. It is virtually impossible to establish the market for pedal tractors, straw mountains, treadmills and rowing machines. It is also difficult (if not impossible) to establish the market size of supporting products (such as retail and food)

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Thus, product portfolio analyses within the service-based leisure industries should be based on a different anchor that the notion of ‘market’. What I suggest as an alternative is to adopt an experiential ‘anchor’ as the basis for undertaking product portfolio analyses in the service-based leisure industries. The resulting matrix is tentatively called the “Bournemouth Matrix”. The proposed matrix analyses products (or their components) in relation to two areas: consumer appeal and development potential.

· Consumer appeal refers to how much a product (or component) contributes to the overall experience provided by the leisure organisation. Another way of looking at consumer appeal is to examine to what extent the withdrawal of that product (or component) would impact on how appealing the organisation would be to actual or potential consumers. Evidence to plot products (or components) along this axe could include: actual usage and consumer feedback (including consumer surveys).

· Development potential refers to the extent to which a particular product (or component) can be changed to enhance the customer experience (in terms of appealing/satisfying consumers more or satisfying a larger number of consumers). Establishing the development potential of products and components could result from an analysis of factors internal and external to the product or component.

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A more complete version of the matrix has been developed and an 8 page support document produced. Students are now applying the matrix to their allocated organisation and if the matrix proves to be useful to a wide range of organisations within the leisure industries, then I will ‘formally’ publish it.

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PS: As this is working in progress, no reference to the Bournemouth Matrix should be made without my previous consent. If you wish to discuss its use, contact me mmoital@bournemouth.ac.uk.

Presentation of the Study - Profile of the Portuguese Tourist in the Algarve

On Wednesday, 22nd January I travelled to Portugal to attend the public presentation of a study that I have been involved in. The study looked at the profile of the Portuguese Tourist in the Algarve. It was commissioned by the Algarve Tourism Board to the Faculty of Economics, Algarve University. Dr. Antónia Correia, with whom I team up frequently, is the lead coordinator of the study.
The study involved surveying nearly 3000 Portuguese tourists in the Algarve and was undertaken in three different seasons: Easter, Summer and New Years Eve (our interviewers finished data collection by 9.30pm on the 31st December!).
The session took place during the Lisbon Travel Exhibition (21-25 January). Although the room had only 130 capacity, there were around 150 attendees. The attendees' reaction was very positive and we are encouraged by their feedback.
The final report should be ready in March and we are now planning to write a few papers out of this research. The Algarve Tourism Board has published the preliminary results (an executive summary and powerpoint presentation, both in Portuguese) and you can find them here.
I will keep you posted of any developments