Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This study is to assess the potential changes COVID-19 has had on the event, tourism, and hospitality industry; specifically, how the skillsets of event professional have changed. While the event, tourism, and hospitality industry is ever changing, COVID-19 vastly shifted roles, responsibilities, and jobs for event professionals. So far, few studies have been conducted to identify the potential changes in skillsets that current and future event planners need to be prepared for their job. Using data from event professionals via focus groups and a survey, this study identifies these new or heightened skillsets. The findings provide useful information for current event professionals in addition to educational programs who can adapt their curricula to best prepare future event professionals.

Online word-of-mouth (WOM) platforms have been referred to by various terms such as online communities, feedback systems, peer reputation systems, or consumer generated media. Such systems provide a global platform for customers to share their experiences, and also rate service providers. WOM systems are burgeoning on the Internet for products such as music and books (Amazon.com), news (Slashdot.org), consumer electronics (shopping.com), tourism and travel (Tripadvisor.com; Hotels.com), and many other products and services. As with the traditional WOM, numerous studies have shown that these systems have a significant impact on customer decision making process, their satisfaction with goods and services, and the overall value of online economic transactions. In this study, the primary focus were the product review systems (PRS). These review systems are less personal but more ubiquitous platforms for online WOM wherein consumers post reviews about the products/services they have consumed. These reviews are widely accessible to other consumers but are disseminated only when other consumer consult these reviews during the purchasing process. However, there are still numerous problems associated with these systems. Recent studies have shown that there are numerous instances of deceptive information provided by service providers themselves or customers who have been paid by commercial parties. Added to this is the problem of anonymity in a computer mediated environment that adds to the already existing uncertainty for the consumer. Further, each review system consists of hundreds of consumer reviews associated with any given product or service. Given that consumers face these numerous problems, research is yet to examine the factors that drive the consumers develop trust in these reviews, and base their purchasing decisions on the information gleaned from the review systems. The main objective of this study was to explore this interesting phenomenon. To this end, this study applied uncertainty reduction theory and Social identity theory to delineate certain aspects of the online reviews that might have an impact on the consumer's assessment of online product reviews. Based on these theories, it was hypothesized that the informational content of the review and social component of the review (individuals' identity information disclosure and the consumers' perceived similarity with this information) have a significant effect on the consumers' trust in a review and subsequently the purchase intention. Further, based on the elaboration likelihood model, it was also posited that consumers' use of these heuristics is more salient while evaluating high involvement products than low involvement products. To test the hypotheses, the study adopted a quasi-experimental design with 2x2 (2 levels each for information content and social component within-subjects) x 2 (2 involvement modes between-subjects) full factorial design. Based on two levels for each of these factors, four reviews similar to those found in sites such as tripadvisor.com were created. A total of 283 students (153 in high involvement mode and 130 in low involvement mode) evaluated these reviews and assigned trust scores as well purchase intention scores to each review. The data was analyzed using linear mixed models and structural equation modeling. The results showed that both the main effects, information content of the review, and the consumers' perceived social identity with the reviewer contribute to an increased trust in the reviews. The study data did not support the hypothesis that involvement of the activity moderates the above mentioned relationships. Within this, information content was found to be playing an important role in both the involvement modes whereas the social component explained more variance in the trust in the high involvement mode than low involvement mode. Some of the results concur with previous research in both traditional and online WOM. The significance of these results in the extant literature as well their implications for both product review system providers as well tourism and hospitality service providers are discussed in detail. / Business Administration

As the need for similar skills across various industries has increased throughout the years, itis not mandatory to stay within the same industry or organization as you once started. Whennew opportunities take shape, people have come to compare their situation with what it couldbe like in another organization, in another industry, making the attractiveness of anorganization increasingly important, both to keep and to attract new talented employees. Thetourism & hospitality industry has long been perceived as an industry where there is poorwork-life balance, and lower compensation for the employees than other industries whencompared. Because of this, the tourism & hospitality industry have to reconsider theirpractices and evaluate what can be changed to increase the attractiveness, to ensure the futuregrowth of the industry. There are aspects of the tourism & hospitality industry that influence the intention to staywithin an organization, and in the industry as well, including the work-life balance andcompensation. However, there has been an emphasis on what influences the employees toleave rather than the aspects that could be changed to increase the attractiveness, reduce theportion of employees leaving, and attract new ones. There are also proven effects that criseshave on organizations within the tourism & hospitality industry, which influence some of thefactors, previously stated as reasons for employees considering leaving. Hence, there is aresearch gap on how to increase the attractiveness of organizations within the tourism &hospitality industry, after a crisis. The purpose of this study is to examine the key factors that explain why employees in thetourism & hospitality industry find other industries more attractive and identify howorganizations within tourism & hospitality must adapt to increase their attractiveness. Toaddress the research gap, this study used an inductive approach and conducted qualitative,semi-structured interviews to gather the data. When choosing a sample technique, it first tooka stance in the snowball technique, using the network of the authors to get in touch with theappropriate respondents. After this a purposive sampling technique was used to select themost appropriate respondents, with the ability to contribute to the study. The empirical datawas analyzed through a thematic analysis to review and present the relevant findings of the empirical data. From the thematic analysis, three main themes were identified: What creates the talentshortage, How do crises affect talent shortage and What can be done to prevent talentshortage. Within the three main themes, nine sub-themes were found, which assisted infinalizing a conceptual model, showing how organizations within the tourism & hospitalityindustry can change to become more attractive toward talented employees. The findings ofthis study shows that opportunities for personal development and career growth, continuouscommunication between employee and employer, involvement of employees in decisions,improved work-life balance, normal workloads, reduction of unhealthy stress, brand image,and compensation can increase the attractiveness of organization in the tourism & hospitalityindustry after a crisis, such as Covid-19.