ABSTRACTSJournal of Hospitality and Tourism Management
10.1
Volume 10 Number 1 2003
The Selection and Training of Workers in the Tourism and Hospitality Industries for the Performance of Emotional Labour
Barbara A. Anderson, Chris Provis, and Shirley J. Chappel
University of South Australia, AustraliaMany workers in the tourism and hospitality industries can be classified as “front-line” service workers, as their jobs involve direct customer contact. The nature of speaking and acting in such work involves displaying emotions, which demonstrate a willingness to be of service. The management of such emotional display has become known as “emotional labour”, which has been defined as the effort, planning and control needed to express organisationally desired emotion during interpersonal transactions. It has been suggested that the social interaction of a service exchange, in which the performance of emotional labour plays an integral part, is one factor used by customers as an indication of service quality. Indeed, three of the five dimensions of the SERVQUAL scale have potentially high emotional content. It has also been widely accepted that the delivery of quality service commences with the selection of suitable employees and the provision of appropriate training. In view of the impact of the performance of emotional labour on perceptions of service quality, it is important to examine the role of selection and training in the performance of such labour. The academic and practitioner literature contains a number of recommendations about the manner in which employee selection should be carried out, and the need for the training of employees is also widely acknowledged. This paper presents the preliminary findings of research carried out into the selection and training practices of organisations in the tourism and hospitality industries as they apply to workers called upon to perform emotional labour.
Positioning Strategy Influences Managers’ Beliefs About the Impact of Atmospheric Music on Financial Performance
Charles S. Areni
University of Sydney, AustraliaTwo hundred and twenty-one Australian hotel and pub managers responded to a mail survey containing items concerning (a) the positioning of their establishment in the marketplace, (b) whether they believed that background or atmospheric music influences the financial performance of their establishment, and (c) the method used to supply atmospheric music in their establishment. Results indicated that (a) managers of up-market establishments reported greater acceptance of the idea that atmospheric music influences revenues, gross margins, and profits than did managers of budget establishments, and (b) managers who believed that atmospheric music affects financial performance were more likely to outsource the supply of atmospheric music to a specialist company. These results are discussed in terms of educating the hospitality industry regarding functional benefits of atmospheric music (i.e., increasing table turnover, managing customer waiting time, facilitating customer-staff interaction, increasing gross margins, etc.) that enhance the “bottom line” performance of an establishment, regardless of its image or positioning strategy.
Service Quality Assessment of Restaurants in Darwin, NT, Australia
Asad Mohsin
Northern Territory UniversityToday’s restaurant-goers are more concerned about having a high quality experience of dining. They expect atmosphere and entertainment and prefer restaurants with a personality rather than those perceived as offering a commodity. This study discusses the significance of service quality and customer satisfaction and undertakes a service quality assessment of restaurants in Darwin in the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia as perceived by their customers.
The study analyses and discusses the responses of 160 participants about their expectations and reasons of eating out in Darwin. First, the customer’s perception is established about the important features of a meal experience and then they are compared to their actual meal experience. Various styles for restaurants were categorised for the study and included: restaurants within large hotels, licensed restaurants in Darwin City, licensed restaurants in Cullen Bay, and Al fresco style restaurants. The paper also attempts to provide determine if expectations of restaurant-goers in a small city are met appropriately. The findings are expected to help the participating operators of restaurants by providing them an assessment of service quality as perceived by their customers. Nearly all participating restaurants have commented that this is the first time they have been involved in such a study. The findings will also facilitate an extensive further study with greater restaurant participation.
Industrial Disputation and Trade Unions in Registered Clubs
Jeremy Buultjens
Southern Cross University, AustraliaThe conventional wisdom is that there are low levels of unionisation and trade union involvement in the hospitality sector. In addition, it is argued that there are low levels of direct industrial action but that the industry’s high level of turnover is an indication of strong individual action on behalf of employees. However, in Australia, because there have been few empirical studies it is difficult to ascertain the features of industrial relations in the hospitality industry. This paper adds to empirical knowledge by exploring various aspects of conflict and trade union involvement in registered clubs of NSW. The findings indicate relatively low levels of industrial conflict, unionisation and trade union involvement and a reliance on conciliation and arbitration in resolving conflict. In addition, business size, regional location and the level of unionisation have significant relationships with aspects related to trade unions and conflict.
Risk Management for Australian Commercial Adventure Tourism Operations
Damian Morgan
Monash University, Australia
Martin Fluker
Victoria University, AustraliaThis paper reviews research and practices relevant to risk management for operators in Australia’s commercial adventure tourism industry. Important concerns highlighted by the 1999 Interlaken river canyoning tragedy in Switzerland are first discussed. Following this, the industry is defined and examined with particular regard to the participant, the operator and the setting. The legal framework encompassing the industry and other broad considerations are then appraised and crises management practices outlined. Two implications arise from this review: first, a model of the risk management operating environment for commercial adventure tourism operations and second, suggestions for research to enhance understanding of this dynamic tourism sector.
sCompetitiveness of Australia as a Tourist Destination
Larry Dwyer, Zelko Livaic, and Robert Mellor
University of Western Sydney, AustraliaA model of destination competitiveness is presented. The model seeks to capture the main elements of competitiveness highlighted in the general literature, while appreciating the special issues involved in exploring the notion of destination competitiveness as emphasised by tourism researchers. The paper then presents the results of a survey, based on indicators associated with the model, to determine the competitiveness of Australia as a tourist destination. Policy measures to enhance the competitiveness of Australian tourism are discussed.
Accidental Deaths of Overseas Visitors in Australia 1997–2000
Jeffrey Wilks and Donna Pendergast
The University of Queensland, Australia
Maryann Wood
Australian Bureau of Statistics, AustraliaBy world standards, Australia is a safe travel destination for international visitors. Yet tourist safety can never be taken for granted. This paper reports on the deaths of 1513 overseas visitors to the country over a 4-year period, and focuses on the 307 deaths (20%) that were recorded as accidental. Motor vehicle crashes and drowning were the main causes of accidental death. The investigation identifies English, American, Japanese and German visitors as most frequently involved in fatal accidents. However, Irish, Swiss and Dutch visitors appear most “at risk” based on crude accidental death rates per 100,000 visitor arrivals. Strategies to prevent tourist accidents and protect Australia’s reputation as a safe travel destination are examined within a risk management framework.
An Application of the CERMPerformance Indicators Program to Benchmarking in the Australian Caravan and Tourist Park Sector
Barry Bell
Griffith University, Australia
Gary Crilley
University of South Australia, Australia
Benchmarking as a tool of performance measurement appears to have gained favourable recognition across many industries, including many sectors of the Australian tourism industry. The authors reviewed recent benchmarking literature, case studies from tourism, and developments from within the Australian leisure industry to identify a suitable program that may facilitate benchmarking in the Australian caravan and tourist parks sector. These reviews are reported on briefly in the paper. Furthermore, a broader framework is proposed to support and sustain any program to be adopted or developed. The importance of having a match between the program and its supporting framework is stressed. This need to match a program within an identified framework is argued as necessary to consider the issues of operational relevance, cost effectiveness and benefits of any adopted program to be provided to both the industry sector and individual organisational participants. The support of the tourism sector peak bodies, and the engagement of an impartial manager of a sector benchmarking process were also identified as potentially vital ingredients for the success of any benchmarking program to be adopted and sustained.
Activity-based Market Sub-segmentation of Cultural Tourists
Sara Dolnicar
Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, Austria
The group of cultural tourists has received a lot of attention in the past decades. Nevertheless only few attempts have been made to study the characteristics of the “cultural tourism market segment”. Besides, it is often implicitly assumed that this segment is a homogeneous group of tourists. The contribution of this article is twofold: first, the assumption of one homogeneous market segment is questioned by searching for sub-segment among cultural tourist in a data-driven manner; second, this data partitioning task is achieved by using a topology representing network (TRN), methodology that allows additional insight into the similarity structure of the sub-segments identified.
Managing Visitor Attractions: An International Comparison of Management Practice
Alan Fyall
Bournemouth University, United Kingdom
Anna Leask
Napier University, United Kingdom
By comparing and contrasting the management of visitor attractions in Scotland and Australia, this paper investigates the extent to which visitor attractions in Scotland can benefit from management “best practice” from a “leading edge” tourism destination. The thematic areas of pricing management, revenue management and the management of environmental impacts at attractions are explored. Thereafter, issues relating to management common practice, are identified, with the volume of visitors at attractions, the charge for admission and the perceived implementation of revenue management impacting significantly on management best practice, rather than in many instances the country of attraction origin. The paper concludes by distinguishing between the management of large-scale “first tier” and small-scale “second tier” attractions. In the future, the search for appropriate management strategies for small-scale second tier attractions is likely to take precedent over international comparative studies of best practice.
The Propensity to Volunteer: The Development of a Conceptual Model
Leonie Lockstone, Leo Jago, and Margaret Deery
Victoria University, Australia
This paper explores the determinants of propensity to volunteer as a foundation for developing a conceptual model to enhance understanding of voluntary participation. The paper reviews literature on existing theoretical models applied to volunteering, related social behaviours, and various internal determinants of propensity to volunteer (social background factors, personality, attitudes, values, motivations, perceptions and volunteering experience). Building on this research base, a cross-disciplinary approach is taken to develop a comprehensive multi-variate model of propensity to volunteer. The various components of this model and its posited relationships are described and key research questions are subsequently presented. Future directions stemming from testing of this model include the development of a theoretical scale to assess predisposition to volunteer and a practical inventory-based instrument designed to assist organisations with volunteer workforces, including those operating within the tourism industry, to better identify and align potential volunteers to compatible working environments.
The “Makers and Shapers” of Tourism Policy in the Northern Territory of Australia: A Policy Network Analysis of Actors and Their Relational Constellations
Christof Pforr
Edith Cowan University, Australia
This paper explores the actors and their relational constellation in the Northern Territory tourism policy domain. The policy network approach is employed as an analytical tool to describe and explain the complex nature of the interaction between the various players who assembled around a single policy issue, the development of the Northern Territory Tourism Development Masterplan (TDMP). In this case study, the focus is therefore set on issue-specific communication networks which underlie the formulation process of that tourism plan. To map the pattern of relationships two main questions are at the forefront – “who are the core actors?” and “what is the nature of their interaction?”.
Gastronomy Studies in Search of Hospitality
Rosario Scarpato
La Trobe University, Australia
This article is a contribution to the current debate on a wider understanding of hospitality and its establishment as a robust academic discipline. A number of academics have recently argued that both the current research agenda and the educational curriculum should be based on a new theoretical framework, not restricted to the economic definition of hospitality. The paper introduces into the search for such a framework the perspective of newly emerging gastronomy studies influenced by Australian academics and practitioners. To this end, some of the common roots of gastronomy studies and new hospitality are analysed as well as some aspects of the common struggle in their attempt to become independent academic disciplines. Hospitality, in trying to broaden its own horizons, flows into the field of gastronomy; meanwhile, gastronomy studies is greatly concerned with hospitality — its research framework and educational models. The perspective of gastronomy studies, however, questions some of the fundamental assumptions of hospitality, such as the sacredness and indissolubility of the hospitality’s “trinity”, that is, the provision of food and/or drink and/or accommodation. In addition, within the gastronomy studies perspective, hospitality is seen as both a community and cultural industry that cannot escape social commitments. In any case, in its conclusion, the paper identifies a common ground on which the new hospitality and gastronomy should work together, particularly on strategic research aimed at educational models that may overcome the liberal/vocational divide.
Tourism Wildlife Icons: Attractions or Marketing Symbols?
Pascal Tremblay
Northern Territory University, AustraliaThe paper examines the use of wildlife icons as marketing devices and attempts to find out whether the choice and effectiveness of appropriate icons is mainly dependent on the attractiveness of specific species or on their relevance to the environment they represent. In the initial part, it examines earlier studies of animal preferences and their determinants. Subsequently, it queries whether tourists only enjoy wildlife possessing such attributes and proposes that they may relate to wildlife icons which hold value as symbols of place and culture, providing them with a mix of affective and cognitive values. The second part of the paper relates results of a survey which investigated the expectations and knowledge of wildlife by tourists visiting the “Top End” of the Northern Territory in Australia. The survey was designed to contrast various ways of querying tourists about their expectations as well as testing their knowledge through species identification. Results uncovered interesting patterns, suggesting that tourists differentiate between their expectations and assessment of the most appropriate icon and that some segmentation could be undertaken on the basis of these expectations.
Instigating Practice-led Research in Service Industry Sectors: The Licensed Club Sector
Gerard N. White
Clubs Victoria (Inc) and The Danish Club “Dannebrog”, Melbourne, Australia
Mervyn S. Jackson
RMIT University, Australia
The Licensed Club Sector constitutes one of the oldest and most “resilient” community and leisure service management sectors within Australia. Being principally community-based, most licensed clubs have been established and have continued to operate and continue to be managed on a predominantly “voluntary” basis. This paper analyctice-led research which surround the management relationships and organisatses the existence of present structures and organisational arrangements within the State’s licensed club structure, and uses this evaluation to investigate and establish a conceptual framework for theoretical and praional structures identified within licensed clubs. A framework for practice-led research has been developed to provide guidelines for future planning applicable for use by licensed clubs themselves, and to assist professional industry associations to conduct overarching policy and organisational planning. The data from a Survey Evaluation Questionnaire as part of a series of mini-conferences conducted throughout metropolitan and regional Victoria in 2001, has been utilised to formulate pertinent issues related to increased business management competency, improved business performance, and an increased awareness of and compliance with statutory requirements.
Hospitality: A Liberal Introduction
Alison Morrison
University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom
G. Barry O’Mahony
Victoria University, Australia
Hospitality management higher education’s historic origins have resulted in a strong vocational ethos permeating curricula. Knowledge about hospitality has been drawn from the industry and the world of work rather than from the many disciplines or other fields of enquiry, which help explain hospitality. However, it would appear that a point has been reached where there is a will for hospitality management education to break out from its vocational and action orientation and begin to explore new territories that would embrace a more liberal and reflective orientation. The impetus may reflect maturity within the field of knowledge, and/or a generational change in the professional and academic profiles of the personalities who dominate. Thus, this paper explores hospitality management education, the movement towards the inclusion of a more liberal and reflective orientation, and provides an example of how a more liberal base was introduced into the curricula at two universities located in Australia and Scotland respectively.
Minimum Wage, Minimal Effect: The Impact of the National Minimum Wage on Small Regional Hotels
Bill Rowson
Leeds Metropolitan University, United Kingdom
Since the Conservative government abolished the hospitality Wages Councils in 1993 a debate has raged about the impact of wage floors on employment in the hospitality sector. The Labour party, then in opposition, promised a reform of unregulated wages in the United Kingdom (UK) in the form of a National Minimum Wage (NMW). Since this was suggested a fierce debate has taken place both about the levels of the NMW and the impact it would have on small hospitality firms — the anti-minimum wage camp suggesting that the NMW would cause numerous job losses and some small firms to crease trading. This paper suggests that this is no more than “hollow rhetoric” and is supported by little or no evidence. Interviews conducted in Shropshire over a 3-year period during the planning and introduction of the NMW show that there has been no significant change in small hospitality firm failure in the Shropshire area. Nor has there been any significant increase in unemployment in the hospitality sector. In fact, in the case of employment there has been a significant increase in hospitality employment within the case study hotels. The Stage 3 interviews in the Shropshire study (post NMW implementation) have produced evidence to suggest that hoteliers in the study have been very resilient and that with plenty of warning from the government and some employee restructuring have circumvented the impact of the NMW.
Internet and the Virtual Marketspace: Implications for Building Competitive E-commerce Strategies in the Hospitality Industry
Marianna Sigala
The University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom
During the last years, research has focused more on the tactics surrounding Internet development such as the development of web site content and design, and only recently on the competitive dynamics of the Internet and on building successful e-commerce strategies. This article aims to provide a conceptual framework for developing competitive e-commerce strategies in the hospitality industry. To this end, the new competitive environment (the virtual marketspace) fostered by technological developments and in which hotels have to compete is examined; specifically, three features of the virtual marketspace, namely, reach, richness and digital representation are analysed. Competitive e-commerce strategies in the hospitality industry aim at addressing and managing the challenges fostered by these three features. Successful examples from the hospitality industry are also provided.
Small Hospitality Businesses: Enduring or Endangered?
Alison Morrison
University of StrathclydeThe last two decades has seen an increase in research attention on the small hospitality business. This indicates a recognition of the important role this sector plays within the industry and potentially valuable contributions to rural and perhipheral communities and local economies. However, it is of concern that researchers and analysts tend to merge generic small business findings with those of a sector specific nature. This may serve to distort knowledge pertaining to this sector and cloud understanding as to the actual nature and characteristics associated with these businesses. Thus, this paper untangles literature, and interogates statistics and definitions in order to compare and contrast traditionally accepted and contemporary perspectives of small hospitality businesses. The paper takes into account factors of import internal and external to the enterprise and draws conclusions as regards whether or not small businesses represent an enduring or endangered phenomena within the international hospitality industry.
Event Studies and Event Management: On Becoming an Academic Discipline
Donald Getz
University of Calgary, CanadaEvent Management has emerged as a distinct field of study and career path, with increasing professionalism, yet its scope and boundaries are somewhat unclear and it is not connected to a disciplinary core. This paper examines its status as an academic field and discusses the process of becoming a discipline. A model is presented for defining event studies and guiding event management academic programs, and it is discussed in the context of relationships with other fields such as tourism and leisure. Implications are drawn for research, curriculum development, and professionalism.
The Role of Nature-Based Tourism in the Contribution of Protected Areas to Quality of Life in Rural and Regional Communities in Australia
R. Bushell and R. Staiff
University of Western Sydney
N.Conner
NSW National Parks & Wildlife ServiceThis paper examines the question of how local communities value the contribution of natural and cultural heritage to their well-being. The provision and management of protected areas is strongly influenced by the perceptions of managers and planners often from outside local communities. Experience has shown it is crucial that park managers ensure there is a coincidence of interest between their own perceptions of the benefits of conservation and those experienced by the local community. This common purpose is necessary to ensure that conservation is accepted and fostered by local communities and the wider public. The paper looks at these issues with particular reference to the role of nature-based tourism as a vehicle for incorporating conservation into regional and rural development strategies, and specifically as one of the mechanisms for the contribution by protected areas to the quality of life for local communities.
Leisure Studies at the Millennium: Intellectual Crisis or Mature Complacency?
A.J. Veal
University of Technology Sydney, AustraliaA number of appraisals of the field of leisure studies have been published in recent years, in explicitly ‘millennial’ publications (eg. the special edition of the Journal of Leisure Research and Jackson and Burton’s Leisure Studies: Prospects for the Twenty First Century) and other books (e.g. Ken Roberts’ Leisure in Contemporary Society) and papers (e.g. Cara Aitchison’s recent paper in Leisure Studies). Depending on who you read, leisure studies is either in a state of desperate intellectual crisis or basking in a somewhat self-satisfied sense of achievement and progress after 30 years of productive work. Following a review of these and other recent appraisals of the field, it is concluded in this paper that it is possible for a field of study as broad as leisure studies to be in crisis in one part but not in another. It is suggested that ‘schools’ or sub-fields of leisure studies be recognised, rather than assuming that leisure studies is a unitary whole.
Tourism and Civil Disturbances: An Evaluation of Recovery Strategies in Fiji 1987–2000
Brian King
Victoria University, Australia
Tracy Berno
University of the South Pacific, FijiFiji experienced two coups in 1987 and another in 2000. These events had a negative impact on the tourism industry and led to the implementation of “crisis action plans”. This paper examines the different recovery strategies that were adopted in 1987 and 2000 with particular emphasis on communications. Tourism changed significantly during the intervening period and the circumstances of the coups were different. This has prompted the use of a different range of tactics in 2000. A number of key differences are identified. The media played a greater role in providing coverage of the 2000 coup with the Internet and Fijilive! site in particular disseminating up-to-the-minute information about the happenings in Fiji. Given that tourism flourishes in a climate of positive imagery, the communication of negative and threatening images has been particularly confronting for the tourism industry. In 2000 the coup was particularly prolonged because of the approach adopted by the hostage-takers.
Whereas the 1987 coup was over quickly thereby allowing the tourism industry to focus on its recovery strategy, the 2000 hostage crisis extended over a period of two months. In these circumstances it was difficult for the industry to rally quickly. Land ownership has emerged as a major issue and the rhetoric of the coup leaders about indigenous land-rights spilt over into disputes over resort-based tourism. The 2000 coup led to a number of hostage-taking incidents in prominent tourist resorts, most notably Turtle Island which had recently won the British Airways Tourism for Tomorrow Award
for the Pacific region and was previously seen as epitomising Fiji’s
top boutique resorts.
Marginalised Participation: Physical Disability, High Support Needs and Tourism
Simon Darcy
University of Technology Sydney, AustraliaPeople with disabilities and their tourism experiences have largely been an under researched phenomenon. In the academic sense, disability issues and tourism have remained separate areas of study. This paper will examine the inequities experienced by people with physical disabilities with high support needs who travel or wish to undertake travel. It does so by investigating the lived tourism experiences of this group. In doing so the paper is guided by the principles of the social model of disability that views disability as a product of the disabling social environment and hostile social attitudes. This social experience takes place largely in the market environment of tourism. This paper seeks to: a) understand tourism from the lived experiences of this group; and b) identify, quantify and discuss the major areas of inequity. This work draws on Darcy’s 1998 study into the tourism patterns and experiences of people with physical disabilities. A number of methodologies were used for this the research including a literature review, secondary data analysis and questionnaire based postal survey. This has been supplemented by in-depth interviews and policy analysis. The paper will conclude by examining the general and tourism specific policy implications of the inequities being experienced by people with physical disabilities with high support needs.