Les pratiques sportives alternatives connaissent une croissance importante. Jadis considérées marginales, ces pratiques sportives, telles que la planche à neige, le skateboard ou encore le vélo de montagne, s'institutionnalisent. Le but de cette thèse etait de proposer une explication du processus d'institutionnalisation de l'une de ces pratiques sportives, soit la planche à neige, dans un contexte déterminé, soit le contexte canadien. Le concept de champ développé par Pierre Bourdieu fut mis à contribution pour tenter de (re)construire le champ de ce sport à plusieurs époques différentes afin de voir comment la dynamique d'intéraction entre les différents agents et les différentes institutions a contribue à l'institutionnalisation de la pratique sportive. À ce titre, nous avons remarqué que le processus d'institutionnalisation de la planche à neige au Canada peut être divisé en deux phases: la décennie '80 et la décennie '90. L'opposition entre les skieurs et les planchistes couplée au contexte de pratique particulier de la planche à neige sont les deux vecteurs qui contribuent à former les premières institutions au cours des années '80. Nous les avons appelées les contre-institutions. Pendant les années '90, la croissance du nombre de participants, l'acceptation généralisée des planchistes dans les centres de ski, la création des premières institutions pancanadiennes et l'acceptation du sport aux Olympiques engendrent une augmentation du capital symbolique des institutions et agents reliés à la planche à neige à l'intérieur du champ plus large des sports de glisse canadiens. En retour, cette hausse significative mène, au tournant du siècle, a une institutionnalisation relativement complète de cette pratique sportive. En réaction à ces résultats et pour faire écho aux recherches de Lamprecht et Stamm (2001), nous proposons, en dernier lieu, une discussion critique du terme 'sport alternatif' qui débouche sur la création d'un modèle pour la compréhension de l'institutionnalisation des pratiques sportives en général.

This dissertation addresses the role of broad-based consultation processes in sport policy formulation using a primarily neo-institutional framework. Specifically, I examine the three factors influencing participation: contextual, institutional and structural forces on consultation. The contextual factors encourage the State to develop institutional mechanisms, such as consultation. Despite these pressures to be more inclusive, the State retains control of the structural factors and the institutional factors to a lesser extent. In the case of the formulation of the Canadian sport policy, the role of these factors led to a consultation process that had a real but limited impact. This thesis contributes to the literature on two levels: theoretical and empirical. Theoretically, it develops a framework to determine the role of broad-based consultation. Empirically, it generates new knowledge of these processes and sport policy formulation in general. It demonstrates how the governance framework is useful in explaining the contextual factors encouraging the development of consultation processes. In combination with the neo-institutional literature, it outlines additional factors influencing sport policy formulation (intergovernmental relations, institutionalized relations and ideas). The research argues that these have the capacity to constrain/enable participation. Finally, it also argues that while the State is influenced by the contextual forces and institutional factors flowing through policy formation; it retains control of a number of structural factors (such as information, interaction/dialogue, stage in the policy process, and the list of participants) at its disposal enhancing its capacity to influence the process. The research findings indicate that broad-based consultation processes influence sport policy formulation, albeit very incrementally. This led to a real but limited impact. It demonstrates how the federal government was able to use consultation as a tool to obtain buy-in from governmental and non-governmental stakeholders in the sport policy sector. Even though the impact was limited, it was real nonetheless. It also provided a unique opportunity for participants to interact in a setting which included an interesting mix of participants which was quite novel for the sport policy sector.

This thesis explores the inner workings of a consumer-driven niche market that has rapidly developed to the point of maturity. The Bed and Breakfast industry, a micro-industry of the hospitality industry, has become a popular lodging phenomenon and entrepreneurial lifestyle. The purpose of this study is to determine if it is possible to succeed in operating a Bed and Breakfast business. The Bed and Breakfast industry is examined, and research findings are discussed. Financial prosperity is difficult, given the huge fixed costs, small number of rooms and corresponding limits on generation of revenue. Operation size, competition from larger hotels and ambiguity in guest expectations are just a few of the factors that make profitability in the Bed and Breakfast industry very difficult. However, changing guest lifestyles, socioeconomic conditions and increased Internet use provide opportunity for the Bed and Breakfast product. Feasibility of turning profit is explored, and predictions for success in the future of Bed and Breakfast industry are presented.

Health and well-being have become one of the most important topics in organizational research. The Covid-19 pandemic has compounded the stress levels in all sectors across the world. The current environment has created unprecedented levels of employee turnover, in what economist have been calling the "Great Resignation," where individuals are not only quitting but are questioning their career choice and choosing to leave their profession altogether. This research utilized Conservation of Research (COR) theory and the Buffer Hypothesis (the notion that social support protects individuals from the negative impacts of workplace stress) to investigate occupational stress and well-being (i.e., burnout and job satisfaction) in the full-service restaurant segment. Prior research on occupational stress has investigated the buffering effect of support by focusing mainly on social support in general (support from friends and family), organizational support, supervisor support, and coworker support. This research is one of the first to conceptualize workplace support to include the role of customer-initiated support as well as organizational support, supervisor support, and coworker support in the occupational stress literature, specifically in the restaurant industry. Additionally, this study simultaneously investigated intention to stay with the employer and intention to change careers/career turnover. The results indicated that workplace stress positively impacts both dimensions of burnout: exhaustion and job disengagement. Subsequently, burnout was found to decrease job satisfaction, which was found to be an important driver of retention. Interestingly, job satisfaction was not significantly related to career turnover, suggesting overall job satisfaction is not enough to prevent career turnover and the buffering hypothesis was not supported. Results suggest that workplace support, including customer-initiated support, may play a different role in the occupational stress, burnout, turnover path. A discussion of the results, implications, and recommendations for future research are provided.

It is believed that the critical next step from examinations of operations and the environment is the study of sustainability and supply chains (Linton, Klassen, and Jayaraman (2007)). Environmental quality and preservation as well as meeting the stress of emission reductions is rapidly becoming an important issue for public policy (Wilkinson, Hill, and Gollan (2001)). However, Lambertini and Mantovani (2007) note the disregard, unrelated to regulatory requirements, of research practitioners to the potential benefits of appropriate competition policy measures and consumer pressures (Srivastara (2007)). In addition, a firm’s success, notably, in terms of financial and/or environmental practices, has been tied, in part, to the strength of its ability to coordinate and integrate activities along the entire supply chain (Spekman, Kamauff Jr., and Myhr (1998)), and to effectively implement multicriteria decisionmaking tools to aid in their strategic decisions. I present five essays in this dissertation. For each model I utilize the theory of variational inequalities, derive the formulation, present qualitative properties, and provide numerical examples. The first essay develops the multitiered sustainable supply chain network model with multicriteria decision-making. In the second essay I construct a modeling and computational framework that allows for the determination of optimal carbon taxes applied to electric power plants in the context of electric power supply chain (generation/distribution/consumption) networks. The third essay considers electric power supply chain networks and develops a model of tradable pollution permits in the case of multiple pollutants and spatially distinct receptor points. In the fourth essay, I quantify and assess, from a system-optimized sustainable supply chain network perspective, the environmental effects resulting when a horizontal supply chain integration occurs. In the fifth and final essay, I extend the work of Nagurney (2009) to the multiproduct supply chain network domain to quantify the impacts. This dissertation is heavily based on the following papers: Nagurney, Liu, and Woolley (2006), Nagurney, Liu, and Woolley (2007), Woolley, Nagurney, and Stranlund (2009), Nagurney and Woolley (2009) and Nagurney, Woolley, and Qiang (2009).

Divestiture activity within the restaurant industry has increased in the last twenty years, however there is a dearth of research investigating the subsequent effects of the phenomenon. In particular none of the studies in the literature, have specifically examined the effects of restaurant firms' brand diversification strategies and systematic risk on shareholder wealth when controlling for divestiture completions. This research extends the knowledge from previous work on corporate unbundling and brand diversification strategies to the unique restaurant industry. Drawing on agency theory, the long- and short-term effects of the resulting brand diversification levels on firm shareholder wealth following a divestiture is examined. In addition, the effect of systematic risk on shareholder wealth following a divestiture is investigated. The study is applied to one of the leading U.S. restaurant firms, Brinker International, Inc., since the company has completed a number of divestitures that have resulted in a reduction of its brand diversification. Time series data from 1994 to 2013 is used in the study. The Wharton Research Data Services database and Brinker International, Inc.'s Securities and Exchange Commission annual and quarterly filings are utilized in acquiring the data for the study. Data analysis for the study consists of a cointegration error correction model. Specifically, the study's methodology includes unit root tests, cointegration, vector error correction, and causality tests for the proposed hypotheses. The results indicate that there is a long-run equilibrium relationship between shareholder wealth, brand diversification, and systematic risk. In addition, a short-term positive relationship exists between Brinker's level of systematic risk and divestiture completion. In addition, a negative short-term relationship is found between Brinker's brand diversification and shareholder wealth with divestiture completion. However, no statistically significant relationships are found between brand diversification, systematic risk, and shareholder wealth for Brinker in the short term. Overall, the study's model for the short-term explains 23.63% of the variance in Brinker's shareholder wealth. This study provides various theoretical and managerial implications for the restaurant literature, as well as, provides a catalyst for future studies to expand on the relationships between brand diversification, systematic risk, and shareholder wealth for restaurant firms when considering divestitures.

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate application of the contemporary business model of pop-up, or temporary, business locations in the food and beverage industry. Currently, entrepreneurs are using this business model to enter into the market without committing significant resources typically required when creating a permanent business. Despite the emerging popularity of this business strategy, the literature on this phenomenon remains sparse and there is a lack of theoretical cohesiveness when describing the pop-up food-related business model and where it fits within the entrepreneurship process. Thus, it is important that researchers identify how and why entrepreneurs utilize the pop-up business model, whether it is effective, and how others can use this process when pursuing their own business venture. This study used a grounded theory research design to achieve the research objectives. A total of 26 semi-structured, in-depth interviews with current and past pop-up food and beverage entrepreneurs were conducted to ascertain the challenges, benefits, and opportunities derived from using the pop-up business model. Based on the data collected, this study offers several implications. First, a framework, including themes and sub-themes, was developed to explain how the pop-up food and beverage business is used as a business model. Second, this dissertation found that food and beverage entrepreneurs use pop-up businesses differently than do other industries. Third, an organizational life cycle of the pop-up business model was developed, which deviates from organizational life cycle studies in other industries. From a practical perspective, this dissertation's framework provides current and future entrepreneurs with best practices for using the pop-up business model. Overall, the findings of this study provide a unique perspective of firm creation that can potentially reduce the negative perceptions of opening a food-related business in the hospitality industry.

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 across different types of restaurant proprietary SSTs (kiosk, tabletop, restaurant mobile app, and web-based SSTs). In order to examine the hypothesized relationships, a quantitative research approach was utilized with the survey research method. An online self-administered questionnaire was developed in Qualtrics for each type of SSTs. The questionnaires were distributed utilizing Amazon mechanical Turk (MTurk). Data was collected in May 2019 from restaurant customers who previously used/experienced one of four SSTs. A total of 619 questionnaires were usable and retained for the data analysis procedures. PLS-SEM and PLS-MGA were utilized to evaluate the conceptual model. The results revealed that emotional values were the most significant SST values that influence customer satisfaction with the restaurant SST experience and continuance intention. SSTs customization features were positively related to customer satisfaction across all the SSTs included in this study. The theoretical and practical implications of the results were discussed as well as the limitations of the study and future research directions.

The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate, in an exploratory way, the state of the art of the application of brand alliances, with a particular focus on the practice of dual branding, in the field of lodging. More precisely, this research aimed at identifying and evaluating the determinants of industry adoption of, and customer satisfaction with, intra-company dual branding strategies in the US lodging industry. The primary purpose of this study is to determine the efficacy of dual branding in the field of the lodging industry, a phenomenon that is still insufficiently explored in the literature. In fact, the scarcity of literature pertaining to the lodging industry has forced this study to consider the research related to other segments and industries where dual branding strategies have been studied. Therefore, this study intended to expand the existing body of knowledge, advancing the theory of brand alliance from an industry and consumer perspective, as well as adapt, refine, and utilize a scale suitable for the measurement of dual branded hotels' customer satisfaction. This dissertation used an exploratory sequential mixed method approach. In the first qualitative phase, face-to-face and telephone interviews with operational hotel managers, corporate hotel managers, real estate development and management companies' managers, owners, and presidents, as well as hotel and lodging associations' professionals have been conducted. In addition to relevant and significant findings and results obtained through the hotel industry professionals interviewed, themes, constructs, and variables useful in the refinement and adaptation of a dual branding customer satisfaction scale were attained. Consequently, the second quantitative phase consisted of an online administration of a scenario-based questionnaire to dual branded hotels' customers of a dual branded lodging property aimed at identifying and evaluating the determinants of customer satisfaction. The ultimate purpose of this research has been to understand the main issues of implementation of dual branding practices and strategies in the lodging context. In particular, it has been to highlight and provide managerial, theoretical, methodological, and practical implications and recommendations for the US lodging industry, in the adoption of intra-company dual branding strategies. The suggestions offered in the study are relevantly timed to what is happening within the lodging industry, offering implications for both academia and industry.

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 review, a research model and hypotheses were developed. Through a self-administered questionnaire, empirical data was collected from theme park visitors who have experienced VR attractions during the past three months. According to the results of the study, the hedonism factor is the most important antecedent of customer delight, which in turn stimulates customer loyalty. Additionally, customer loyalty toward the VR attraction shows positively and partially mediated effects between customer delight and customer loyalty toward the theme park that contains the VR attraction. The study contributes to the empirical study of VR technology application and the concept of customer delight in the entertainment sector of the tourism industry. This study also suggests that theme park operators should emphasize offering a hedonic experience to customers. Suggestions for future research are also provided.